Pope Francis on Sunday appointed Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan among the new cardinals of the Catholic Church.
The pope named 21 new “princes” of the Church, four are from Asia, who will one day elect his successor.
Among those named by the pope were Archbishop Tarciso Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, Bishop Paskalis Syukur of Bogor in Indonesia, and Archbishop Dominique Joseph Mathieu of Teheran-Ispahan in Iran.
Others were heads of major dioceses in South America and Europe, including Scalabrian Fr. Fabio Baggio, who heads the migrants and refugees division of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Integral Human Development.
Baggio, an Italian, served as missionary to Chile, Argentina, and the Philippines before his assignment in Rome.
He said the prelates would receive their red hat at a Vatican ceremony, known as a consistory, on December 8, the Solemnity of Immaculate Conception.
As of the 87-year-old pope’s announcement, there were 122 of the 236 cardinals under 80 and eligible to vote in a future conclave.
David, 65, will join the group of active Filipino cardinals, which includes Cardinal Jose Advincula of Manila and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who is serving in the Vatican.
The country’s other living cardinals are Gaudencio Rosales, archbishop emeritus of Manila, and Orlando Quevedo, archbishop emeritus of Cotabato. However, since both are over 80 years old, they can no longer take part in choosing a new pope.
Born in Betis, Pampanga, David was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of San Fernando in 1983.
In 2006, he was named auxiliary bishop of San Fernando, serving in that role until his transfer to the Kalookan diocese in 2015.
A priest for 41 years and a bishop for 18, David is one of the country’s leading biblical scholars, holding a doctorate in theology from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.
David is currently in Rome, leading the CBCP delegation at the second session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality, which runs until October 27.
Known by his nickname “Ambo,” the bishop was one of the leading church voices against the spate of drug war killings under former President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
He lamented how Duterte’s notorious campaign against illegal narcotics had turned his diocese, which covers the cities of Caloocan, Navotas and Malabon, into a “killing field.”
In February 2024, David was elected the next vice president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC). He will officially assume the post in January 2025.
