HONOLULU — Cardinal William Levada, a retired Vatican official, was arrested last week for allegedly driving under the influence while vacationing in Hawaii with some of his priest friends.
“I regret my error in judgment. I intend to continue fully cooperating with the authorities,” he said in an Aug. 24 statement released by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, where he resides.
The 79-year-old cardinal was stopped late Thursday night in the city of Kailua-Kona on the island of Hawaii, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported. A police spokeswoman said a patrol officer saw his car swerve while he was driving alone on Queen Kaahumanu Highway.
He was charged and released after he posted $500 bail. He is required to appear in court Sept. 24.
From May 2005 through July 2012, the cardinal headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Benedict XVI, the congregation’s former prefect, had chosen the American bishop to take his place in the dicastery.
Cardinal Levada was archbishop of San Francisco from 1995 to 2005 and is a past archbishop of Portland in Oregon. He had also been a priest and auxiliary bishop in the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
He retired in 2012 and took part in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis. He now lives in Menlo Park, Calif., 40 miles southeast of San Francisco.