Archbishop William Levada, prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, is going to be deposed in a sex abuse case in San Francisco and may be asked about a case in Portland when he was archbishop there.
SF Weekly has learned that in 1993—the year before the archbishop’s controversial decision to restore Baccellieri to his priestly duties—Levada knew about allegations that the priest had abused not one but three male victims, and that Levada authorized secret payments to each of them after they threatened to make the allegations public in a lawsuit.
That would be a pretty pickle. The highest-ranking American prelate ever who is tasked with the job of dealing with sex abuse cases could himself be revealed as having put a known molester back in ministry after paying off victims. This is no less than what Cardinal Law did that got him run out of Boston.
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The difference between Levada and Law, though, would be of mere chronology: Law received his “Roman reward” AFTER the abuse became public; Levada, on the other hand, managed to get his reward for supposedly “aiding and abetting” BEFORE the abuses became public. The message from Rome, therefore, is very clear: help to hide homosexual misconduct, and you’ll be rewarded.
This is conflict of interest. I hope the truth comes out and then it will have to be dealt with.
I doubt anyone will deal with it, even if it does come out. Let’s pause for a moment and consider how we’re going to feel about knowing that the chief mucky-muck at the CDF enabled child abuse.