William Joseph Levada is an American Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, named in the Consistory of March 24, 2006, and assigned to the titular diaconal church of Santa Maria in Domnica, also known as the “Navicella” on the Caelian hill in Rome. He was born in Long Beach, California, on June 15, 1936, only son of Joseph and Lorraine (Nunez) Levada, both natives of Concord, California; his older sister Dolores died on May 21, 2007. His great-grandparents immigrated from Portugal and Ireland to the Bay Area in the 1860’s.

William attended Catholic grammar schools in Long Beach and Houston, Texas, and St. Anthony High School in Long Beach. He attended seminary college in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, graduating from St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo in 1958 with a B.A. in Philosophy. From 1958 to 1962, he continued his seminary formation at the North American College in Rome, taking his theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, receiving a licentiate degree in theology (STL) in 1962.

Father Levada was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on December 20, 1961, in St. Peter’s Basilica by Archbishop Martin John O’Connor, Rector of the North American College and President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He served in two parishes in the Archdiocese : St. Louis of France, La Puente (1962-3) and St. Monica, Santa Monica (1963-1967), where he also taught religion at St. Monica High School, and was chaplain for the campus ministry at Santa Monica City College.

In 1967 Cardinal James Francis McIntyre asked Fr. Levada to return to Rome for doctoral studies in theology; he received his doctorate (STD) in dogmatic (fundamental) theology in 1971. From 1970 until 1976 he taught theology at St. John’s School of Theology, Camarillo. He also served as the Archdiocese’s first Director of Continuing Education for Priests, and was elected Chair of the Council of Priests.

From 1976 to 1982 Fr. Levada served as an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican; he continued to teach theology part-time as an instructor at the Gregorian University. During his service at the Congregation he served under three popes, Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II, and under two Prefects, Cardinals Franjo Seper and Joseph Ratzinger.

From 1982 to 1984, then-Monsignor Levada oversaw the office of the California Catholic Conference of Bishops in Sacramento as Executive Director. During this period he was named Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles and Titular Bishop of Capri, and was ordained Bishop by Cardinal Timothy Manning in St. Vibiana Cathedral, Los Angeles, on May 12, 1983. In 1984 he was appointed Episcopal Vicar of Santa Barbara County in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

In 1985 Bishop Levada’s seminary classmate, Most Reverend Roger Mahony, was appointed Archbishop of Los Angeles. Archbishop Mahony asked Levada to chair a task force to create an internal restructuring of the Archdiocese into five regions, in which an Auxiliary Bishop would oversee the deaneries, parishes, and regional offices; the chancery and pastoral offices were also given a new structure. With the implementation of this plan in 1986, Bishop Levada was named Chancellor of the Archdiocese and Moderator of the Curia, and Regional Bishop of the San Fernando Valley region.

On July 1, 1986, Bishop Levada was named eighth Archbishop of Portland in Oregon, the second-oldest Archdiocese in the United States. Among the particular duties Archbishop Levada assumed there were service to Mount Angel Seminary as Chair of the Board of Regents; approving the reorganization of Catholic Charities into a single agency; restructuring the Archdiocese’s outreach to Hispanic Catholics; and inaugurating a new program for priestly vocations. Levada also conducted a fund drive to provide adequate retirement benefits for clergy, including a new priests’ retirement residence. He oversaw the project for the restoration and renewal of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Portland, and began the planning for the 1996 sesquicentennial celebrations marking the 150^th anniversary of the Archdiocese.

During his service in Portland, the Archbishop was appointed to the Editorial Committee, a group of seven bishops from throughout the world who were given the task of preparing the drafts of the new Catechism of the Catholic Church for the Catechism Commission, chaired by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. The Catechism of the Catholic Church was promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992.

On August 17, 1995, Archbishop Levada was appointed coadjutor Archbishop of San Francisco, and on December 27 of the same year he succeeded Most Reverend John Quinn as Archbishop. In San Francisco Archbishop Levada implemented the recommendations of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan which was approved by the two Archbishops when he was coadjutor. He served as Chairman of the Board of St. Patrick’s Seminary and University, and of Catholic Charities/CYO. He was Grand Prior of the Northwest Lieutenancy (USA) of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and was Conventual Chaplain for the Western Association (USA) of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta (aka Knights of Malta).

During his tenure in San Francisco, Archbishop Levada ordained two Auxiliary Bishops: John Wester on September 18, 1998, and Ignatius Wang on January 30, 2003. Bishop Wester is now Bishop of Salt Lake City, and Bishop Wang – a native of Beijing, China, and the first Asian-American ordained bishop for an American diocese – is now Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus. He also established the City’s oldest parish, St. Francis in North Beach (founded 1849), as the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi.

A member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since 1983, Levada served on several Conference committees. In 2000 he became Co-Chair of the national Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue, and in 2003 he was elected Chair of the Committee on Doctrine. In 2000 he also received the appointment as a Member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, whose Prefect was then-Cardinal Ratzinger.

On May 13, 2005, just weeks after the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Levada was named to take his place as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In this role, Cardinal Levada also served as President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the International Theological Commission, and the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. He received appointments to several Vatican Congregations, Pontifical Councils and Commissions, some of which he still serves after his retirement as Prefect on July 2, 2012. In March 2013 he attended the Conclave at which Pope Francis was elected.

Cardinal Levada is now Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and an Archbishop Emeritus of San Francisco. He resides on the grounds of St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park.
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Southern California native Cardinal William J. Levada, former head of the Vatican's doctrinal congregation and retired archbishop of San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, died September 26, 2019, in Rome. He was 83. Click HERE for details.

William J. Levada was baptized at Holy Innocents Church, Long Beach, where he also received his First Holy Communion. He served as an altar boy here as well until his family moved to Texas for a number of years before returning to Long Beach.

In December of 2013, Cardinal Levada offered Mass at Holy Innocents on Christmas Day. He returned on the Feast of the Holy Innocents to bless our restored baptistery where he had been baptized by Father O'Shea in 1936.