Forming the Faith

Back in 2004, Roman Catholic Bishop Donald Wuerl traveled often to Rome to work with the Vatican's Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, led at the time by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Both were scholars, both were of German decent, and they worked well together. Two years later, after Ratzinger had become Pope Benedict XVI, he appointed Wuerl archbishop of Washington, D.C., a post considered by many the de facto Vatican spokesman position in the United States.

Wuerl was well placed for the position. Having led the Pittsburgh diocese for 21 years, he rescued its parishes from a $2 million deficit and wrote a book on Catholic teachings that became a best-seller. He was lauded for his strong record in fighting to remove priests involved in the church's sexual abuse scandals. Compared to the populist personas of their predecessors, Benedict and Wuerl are both considered traditionalists who hold conservative views on Catholic doctrine and emphasize the importance of teaching to confront new challenges like dwindling church attendance and the dilution of social teachings.

Just days before the pontiff's arrival in America, Wuerl invited NEWSWEEK's Daniel Stone and Eve Conant for a rare interview inside his home—a renovated church attic—to discuss the challenges facing the Catholic Church in America, Wuerl's relationship with the pope and his expectations for the upcoming trip. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: You first met Ratzinger in 1985, but just now you mentioned you had an interesting interaction with him soon after he became pope.
Archbishop Donald Wuerl: This was back in 2005 in January, when he was still Prefect of the Congregation. He was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. I was in Rome for some work that had to do with a number of things. One of the items was at his congregation, and in the course of the work he looked in to see how everything was going, offer words of encouragement. We were delighted. And off he went. Who would have thought that several months later that he would be pope. [Five months later] I went over to the general audience and stood in line with the other bishops to say hello to him. And when I went up to greet him, he said, "Did you ever finish that project?" [Laughs] I was very complimented that he even remembered, but he seemed genuinely interested in what he set out to do.

And you replied?
I said, "Uhhh, we're working on it."

Because you hadn't finished, had you?
Well, it was a work in progress.