Archbishop William Levada, formerly of San Francisco and Portand Oregon, was deposed about policies and procedures in the Diocese of Portland where he was bishop from 1986-1995. Before leaving for his new post as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in August 2005, Levada was slapped with a subpoena to testify about the church abuse scandal in Portland. Levada, the highest ranking American church figure in Rome, supervises the handling of clergy involved in sexual abuse of minors.
Despite the length of the deposition, the potentially damaging nature of the questioning was dramatically reduced by Judge Elizabeth Perris who gave an order on December 30 limiting the scope of the proceeding to Levada’s knowledge of church policies and procedures involving sexual abuse claims.
Prior to being ordained a bishop, Levada had worked in the same Congregation for the present Pope Benedict XVI.