Cardinal William Joseph
Levada dies in Rome
The Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith died during the night of 26 September in Rome. He was 83 years of
age.
By Vatican News
In 1983, Pope Saint John Paul II appointed William Levada
Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, the city where he was born. He went on to
serve as Archbishop of Portland, Oregan, in 1986, and then of San Francisco, in
1995.
During the 1980’s, then-Archbishop Levada worked closely
with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on drawing up the “Catechism of the
Catholic Church”.
When Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope in 2005, he chose
Archbishop William Levada to take over from him as Prefect of the Vatican
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
A year later, Pope Benedict XVI made him a cardinal.
The life and service of William J. Levada
William J. Levada was ordained a priest in St. Peter's
Basilica on December 20, 1961. He worked as a parish priest in Los Angeles for
five years, serving as the first Director of Continuing Education for the
Clergy and teaching theology at St. John's Seminary School of Theology.
In 1976 he was appointed an Official of the Vatican
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In Rome, he taught theology at the
Pontifical Gregorian University.
On 25 March 1983, Pope John Paul II appointed him auxiliary
bishop of Los Angeles. He received his episcopal ordination on 12 May of the
same year.
On 1 July 1986 he was promoted to the Archbishop's See of
Portland, in the State of Oregon. During his nine years of pastoral service in
Portland, he devoted himself to priestly vocations and to improving the
seminary at Mount Angel, where he taught ecclesiology.
In 1995 he became Archbishop of San Francisco. From 1986 to
1993 he was the only American bishop on the editorial board of the Commission
for the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He is the author of the Glossary
published in the second English edition of the Catechism.
In 1997 he participated in the Special Assembly for America
of the Synod of Bishops and was later appointed a member of the post-synodal
council. During the year 2000 he was appointed bishop co-president of the
Anglican-Catholic Dialogue of the United States of America (ARC-USA).
In 2003 he organized the celebration of the 150th
anniversary of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and began the three-year
presidency of the Committee of the United States Episcopal Conference on
Doctrine
In 2005 he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith by Pope Benedict XVI, succeeding the then Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger. In 2006 he was created Cardinal in the Consistory of 24 March 2006.
Since 2012 he has been Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Commission
"Ecclesia Dei", President Emeritus of the Pontifical Biblical
Commission and of the International Theological Commission.
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