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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: Former PDX Archbishop may be appointed as high Vatican official Former PDX Archbishop may be appointed as high Vatican official 07:06 AM PDT on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 Former Portland Archbishop William Levada could become the next guardian of religious orthodoxy in the Vatican, charged with safeguarding church doctrine and morals. The position was previously held by former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before his election as Pope Benedict XVI. "It's a quiet rumor that I have heard," current Portland Archbishop John G. Vlazny told The Oregonian. Levada met privately with the pope Tuesday, according to news reports. Levada was Portland archbishop from 1986 to 1995, before he left for his current job as the seventh archbishop of San Francisco. As a priest, Levada was on Ratzinger's staff when the new pope served as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a post he held from 1981 until his election last month. Levada is chairman of the U.S. Bishops' doctrine committee and worked with Ratzinger on the 1994 "Catechism of the Catholic Church," Vlazny said. Levada was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Dec. 20, 1961, at St. Peter's Basilica. The Rev. Patrick Brennan, vicar for clergy in Portland, has known Levada since the mid-1970s. During Levada's tenure in Portland, Brennan was judicial vicar, advising the archbishop on questions of canon law. "He is the brightest bishop I've ever met," Brennan said. "He has diplomatic skills that will come in handy in that congregation." The prefect must deal with clergy, theologians and bishops in difficult and challenging situations, Brennan said. Pope John Paul II decided that bishops struggling with clergy sex-abuse cases should report them to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. As prefect of that particular congregation, Levada would receive reports and recommendations from bishops and decide what steps to take, Brennan said. Levada's tenure in Portland included a historic $6.5 million remodeling of St. Mary's Cathedral and several volatile, high-profile statewide initiatives. In 1992, he urged Catholic faithful to vote down an anti-gay-rights measure. Two years later, he took a neutral position on a second anti-gay-rights initiative, saying he wanted to focus on defeating an initiative legalizing doctor-assisted suicide, which he characterized as "murder in the name of mercy." More evidence that the Catholic Church is rewarding the pro-pedophile faction.
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