Tornado Alley (PROG)

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(COMTEX) B: American Bishop May Get Ratzinger Post ( AP Online )

VATICAN CITY, May 11, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Pope Benedict XVI is
sounding out top Vatican cardinals, including San Francisco's archbishop, on
filling his old job as the chief guardian of the Vatican's conservative
doctrine, but hasn't made a decision yet, a Vatican official said Wednesday.

Time magazine reported Tuesday that Benedict already had asked Archbishop
William Levada of San Francisco, a doctrinal expert, if he were interested in
leading the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith [F6 note -- the same good office
that ran the Inquisition in the Middle Ages] and that Levada had accepted.

But the weekly couched its report by quoting an unidentified senior Vatican
official as saying that if Levada isn't appointed, "it means somebody got to
(the pope) and convinced him to change his mind."

The pope caught the media's attention when he met privately with Levada on May
3, and the archbishop's strong credentials for the post fueled speculation he
was a leading candidate.

Benedict and Levada are old friends, and Levada is one of five bishops serving
on the congregation, one of the most powerful Vatican offices, with its task of
ensuring the church's teachings are followed.

Benedict, also a theologian, led the congregation from 1981 until his election
as pontiff last month.

Benedict has been meeting almost daily with his No. 2 at the congregation,
Monsignor Angelo Amato - cited by some as another possible candidate - and in
recent days has met nearly all the major heads of top Vatican offices to sound
them out on potential candidates, the Vatican official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he didn't believe the
pope had yet reached a decision.

Levada, 68 and a conservative, has been archbishop of San Francisco since 1995;
before that he was archbishop of another largely liberal city, Portland, Ore.

He has spoken out on some pressing doctrinal concerns, voicing opposition to
same-sex marriages and saying priests should ask bishops for guidance on whether
to refuse a Catholic politician communion if the politician supports abortion
rights.

The U.S. churchman earned a doctorate in sacred theology at Rome's prestigious
Pontifical Gregorian University and taught theology both there and in the United
States. Currently he chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committee
on doctrine.

Levada joined the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1976 and served
for six years, leaving shortly after Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as the pope
previously was known, took over as prefect in 1981. He returned as one of the
bishops on the congregation in 2000.

Levada helped draft the Catechism of the Catholic Church - essentially the
handbook on everything you need to believe to be a Catholic, and one of the
major accomplishments of Pope John Paul II's papacy.

He also is expert on the authority of the pope as head of the Roman Catholic
Church and has been involved with efforts aimed at Episcopalian-Roman Catholic
dialogue in the United States.

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press Writer

Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved

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[F6 note -- in addition to the post to which this post is a reply and preceding, see also http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?Message_id=6214403 and preceding and following]