William Levada Cleric

William Joseph Levada (born June 15, 1936) is an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. From May 2005 until June 2012, he served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Benedict XVI; he was the highest ranking American in the Roman Curia. He was previously the Archbishop of Portland (Oregon) from 1986 to 1995, and then Archbishop of San Francisco from 1995 to 2005. Levada was elevated to the cardinalate in 2006. The cardinal's resignation as prefect for reasons of age was accepted on Monday, July 2, 2012 (having reached 75 years of age in 2011, the canonical age at which all Catholic bishops must submit an offer of resignation to the Pope). He was succeeded that same day by Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Regensburg in Regensburg, Germany, who was named an archbishop.