Archbishop DUI Arrest: I Was 'Driving My Mother Home'
The archbishop select of San Francisco could face discipline from the Vatican after being arrested on the suspicion of driving while under the influence.
The Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, the archbishop select of San Franciso, was arrested early Saturday morning on the suspicion of driving under the influence according to the Associated Press. The arrest occurred at 12:26 a.m. when Cordileone passed a police checkpoint at San Diego State University.
Detective Gary Hassen, a police spokesman, confirmed the arrest, but did not state whether a sobriety test had been taken. The archbishop select had studied at San Diego state for a year in the 1970s.
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"Cordileone was booked into San Diego County jail two hours after being stopped and then released at 11:59 a.m. Saturday on $2,500 bond, sheriff's records show," according to the Associated Press. "He was ordered to appear in court Oct. 9."
Cordileone was to be installed as the archbishop on Oct. 4, during the Feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco. Any potential disciplines will likely come from the Vatican, according to the AP, which stated that bishops answer only to the Pope.
"If there was anything, it would be handled in Rome, most likely by the Congregation for Bishops. Depending on the question or type of criminal charge, it might go directly to the Pope or as directly as you can get," Michael Ritty, a canon lawyer in private practice, told AP.
Cordileone is the current bishop of Oakland. In 2011, he was named as the chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage. In a statement given the day following his arrest, the archbishop select came forward to offer a public apology.
"I apologize for my error in judgment and feel shame for the disgrace I have brought upon the church and myself," Archbishop-designate Salvatore Cordileone said in a written statement to CNN. "I will repay my debt to society and I ask forgiveness from my family and my friends and co-workers at the Diocese of Oakland and the Archdiocese of San Francisco. I pray that God, in his inscrutable wisdom, will bring some good out of this."
Cordileone stated that he had been driving his mother home after having dinner alongside friends and another priest when the arrest was made.
