New doctrinal head says U.S. pastoral experience will help his work

Published: 2005-06-06

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Archbishop William J. Levada, the new head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said his U.S. pastoral experience makes him sympathetic to the doctrinal and teaching challenges faced by local bishops around the world. In an interview with Catholic News Service June 6, Archbishop Levada also said that while the congregation sometimes must discipline errant theologians its primary work is positive -- safeguarding sound doctrine so the faith can be shared with the world. That task is something all theologians should share, he said. Archbishop Levada was visiting the doctrinal congregation's offices in early June. He plans to move to Rome at the end of the summer, after he wraps up affairs in his current Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .