Wednesday, May 11, 2005
LEVADA RUMOR
SFGate picks up the Times story and adds a spin of its own:
But Vatican analyst Rocco Palmo, the source of the May 4 report, predicted Tuesday that Levada, 68, would get the Vatican post and then be elevated to cardinal at a June 29 Vatican assembly.
"He will be the first American cardinal named by the new pope,'' Palmo said in an interview with The Chronicle. "He is about to become the highest- ranking American in Vatican history."
Palmo noted that Levada has extensive experience dealing with the sexual abuse scandal in the U.S. church.
"He has on-the-ground experience in the United States," Palmo said. "That is priceless."
It boggles the mind to try to comprehend "Levada" and "priceless experience" both in the same sentence.
"If they want to address the ethical and moral issues in the church in Europe and North America, you have Ratzinger speaking to Europe and Levada to the United States,'' said Paul Murphy, a church scholar at the University of San Francisco.
Murphy, the director of the Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought, noted that Levada may serve a very liberal archdiocese, but he carries strong credentials as a doctrinal conservative.
"He won't necessarily please liberals in North America, but he is someone very familiar with the North American situation,'' Murphy said.
A "doctrinal conservative"? I guess he and Cardinal Law can worship Allah together. I see no reason to believe that Archbishop Levada would have any problem with that. They must be celebrating with champaign and caviar over at United Religions Initiative!
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for us!
