VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI's decision to elevate an American archbishop to a job as chief defender of church doctrine could give the U.S. church more influence in Rome.
The appointment of San Francisco Archbishop William Levada also puts a conservative clergyman with a record of pragmatic approaches to problems in the Roman Catholic Church's most influential job. The new pope also put Pope John Paul II on the fast track to possible sainthood.
With his appointment last week as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Levada, 68, will have risen higher in the Vatican than any other American clergyperson....