San Francisco, USA - Archbishop William Levada said he will leave San Francisco for the Vatican with a clear conscience.
He believes that he was able to restore order and direction to an archdiocese that was reeling from church closures and clergy misbehavior. He defended his handling of sexual abuse cases and is proud of having reopened some closed parishes and reconfigured others.
"I wasn't filled with dread when I came here but I knew there were problems I would have to address," Levada said. "I knew I was going into a very concentrated center that had some hot-button issues."
He also acknowledged areas where he would have liked to have spent more time, notably visiting with priests and parishioners.
Levada, a fourth-generation Californian named archbishop of San Francisco 10 years ago, will resign on Wednesday to become the highest-ranking American in Vatican history. He will be in charge of resolving questions around faith and morals for the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
His new title will be Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. The job was held for 24 years by German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he was elevated to Pope Benedict XVI in April.
In a wide-ranging interview early Sunday evening, Levada spoke fondly of his time in San Francisco and anxiously of his future in Rome. He laughed easily, joking and gesticulating. At times, he paused to reflect before carefully choosing his words.
Levada said that his job as archbishop of San Francisco brought "surprises every month or two." Early on, he was involved in delicate negotiations with the city on implementing gay rights in a way consistent with Catholic teaching.
"There's always something going on here," he said. "We had domestic partner issues. We had strikes. I tried to look at the issues in a way that would not betray our church principles. I think that my time in San Francisco helped prepare me for my job in Rome."
Sitting in an office in the San Francisco Archdiocese headquarters, Levada, wearing simple black clerical clothing and collar and a gold ring with a lapis lazuli stone given to him by his mother when he first became a bishop, went beyond the hot-button issues that have consumed him in San Francisco.
He touched on subjects as varied as the church's position on why women can't be priests to the use of condoms for disease prevention.
He reflected on what drew him to the priesthood and recalled how his father -- a chemical engineer -- reacted with stunned silence to the news that he planned to enter the seminary. He considered questions about sin and said he does believe there are people -- Hitler, Pol Pot -- who are truly evil. And, he talked of the role of fear in faith. He said German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was wrong in calling fear the "mother of morals."
He admitted to being exhilarated and exhausted. A farewell dinner held for him on Saturday night at the Marriott Hotel drew more than 2,300 people, including an array of political and religious leaders from around the state.
"I'm astonished at what has happened," Levada said smiling.
As he prepares to leave, he says he faces a "steep learning curve."
"As a busy archbishop here and for nine years before in Portland, I could not give attention to every aspect of what the Congregation (of the Doctrine of the Faith) was doing," he said. "So, it's like going back to school and finding out everything that has happened over the last 25 years. It's challenging. You certainly don't want to be a failure."
Asked if he felt pressure to represent American Catholics, he said, "I'm not Dianne Feinstein representing California in the Senate. I'm an American but I'm not chosen to represent America. I'm chosen to do a job for the universal church. Of course I will be influenced by my culture and my experiences."
He is looking forward to giving more thought to some of the universal issues facing the church. He is fluent in Italian and Spanish, communicative in French and reads Latin.
He said he has listened, for example, to the discussion around women becoming priests.
"This is a tradition that comes to us from Jesus," he said. "Was he against women? No, in the Gospels, he was very favorable to women, as friends, as disciples. A male priesthood is what we received from Jesus. It has nothing to do with putting women down."
He offers what he sees as both a religious and pragmatic answer for why the church is largely opposed to the distribution of condoms.
"I think there is a problem of education," he said. "I don't think you should say to a young man, 'OK, we want you to be good, but if you can't be good use this condom.' We believe that you ought to be good and if you really rely on God's grace you will be good."
He said that he enjoys asking questions, such as "Why are people still religious in the modern world?"
His answer: "They're religious because it's built into us. We all have a spiritual capacity." He believes that fear does have a role in faith, but considers it positive.
"One of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit is fear of the Lord," he said. "I think it's right to have a healthy and holy fear. God can be a stern sort of taskmaster. But at the same time he is a God of love, full of mercy and compassion."
Levada, who grew up in Long Beach, says that he still doesn't understand exactly what it was that drew him to the priesthood. He was raised a traditional Catholic, but there were no priests in his family at the time.
"It was an idea that just kept coming back to me," Levada said, struggling for an explanation. "It's really hard to quantify. I guess God had a hand in it. But it's not as if you hear a voice. It's through circumstances. I thought about it enough over time that I felt I better check this out."
He says that he prays three times a day and feels closest to God during Communion. He also enjoys his private meditations.
There are times, too, he admits, when he is surprised by where he is in life. He can still be taken aback when the faithful supplicate before him and ask for a blessing. Or when they kiss his ring.
"I have a ring from the pope. It's a good shepherd's ring, a silver design of shepherd and sheep," he said. "I wear that a lot. Sometimes, it depends on the culture, the Filipinos will touch your ring to their forehead. You sometimes worry they're going to whack themselves too hard with the ring and get knocked out."
He looked at the gold watch on his left wrist. He had packing to do.
Smiling as he walked out, he said, "I can say honestly that when I became a priest it was not to get a job as a prefect for a congregation in Rome. It just wasn't on the screen. It's astonishing to me."