A high-ranking member of the Roman Catholic Church was arrested last week on suspicion of drunken driving while on vacation in Hawaii.
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“I intend to continue fully cooperating with the authorities”, he said in an August. 24 statement released by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, where he resides.
Major Mitchell Kanehailua of the Hawaii Police Department told The Daily News on Wednesday that Levada was driving alone, adding he had never heard of a top clergyman being arrested before on Hawaii’s roadways.
The Hawaii Tribune-Herald ( ) reported Monday that Cardinal William Joseph Levada of Menlo Park, , was stopped final week whereas driving on the Massive Island. He was charged with a DUI then released about an hour later after posting the $500 bail.
Archdiocesan spokesman Michael Brown said that the cardinal was on vacation with friends at the time of the arrest.
“Speaking generally at all levels of the organization, such things would be looked at on a case-by-case basis”, he wrote in an email to HuffPost. If the matter seemed to indicate a more serious problem, this would be treated more seriously.
Before his retirement as archbishop in 2012, Levada was the highest ranking American cardinal within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. “This would be true at all employee levels”. He’s due in Kona District Courtroom on September 24. A 0.08 blood alcohol level is the threshold for legal intoxication while driving in Hawaii.
Cardinal Levada was prefect of the CDF under Pope Benedict XVI from May 2005 until he resigned because of his age in June 2012.
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In 2013, Levada traveled to the Vatican to take part in the conclave that elected Pope Francis.
