CBCP president Pablo David new cardinal

Metro Manila, Philippines — Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines president and Bishop Pablo Virgilio David is among the new cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Francis announced 21 new cardinals on Sunday, Oct. 6, during his Angelus at the Vatican.

In a Facebook post on early Monday morning, David said he ignored an international call that could have been from the Vatican as he prepared for his homily. He then received a text from a procurator congratulating him as a cardinal, thinking it was a joke.

“Then I began to receive a deluge of messages,” David said. “It felt like being caught in a whirlwind.”

He said he did a five-minute breathing exercise to calm down. “Now it felt like Elijah standing by the mouth of a cave and feeling a soft breeze that penetrated my soul and prepared me for this new chapter of my life and ministry as a bishop, as a servant of God’s people. I said, ‘Okay, Lord. My life is in your hands,’” he wrote.

In a video posted on TV Maria, the Filipino Catholic TV Channel, David said the assignment of cardinal is a big responsibility.

“Ang ibig pong sabihin para sa akin ng pagiging cardinal ay humihingi ng tulong ang ating Santo Papa na alalayan siya, suportahan siya sa kanyang gawain bilang Pontifex Maximus,” he said.

“Ito po ay pakikipagtulungan sa ating Santo Papa para mapanatili ang pagkakaisa ng local churches as one holy, Catholic, and apostolic church,” he added.

[Translation: I believe being a cardinal means the pope is calling for help in supporting him in his role of being a Pontifex Maximus… This is helping the pope to keep the unity of local churches as one holy, Catholic, and apostolic church.]

Cardinals elect a new pope. David will be the 10th Filipino cardinal. Once installed on Dec. 8, he will be among five living Filipino cardinals, namely, Gaudencio Rosales, Orlando Quevedo, Jose Advincula, and Luis Antonio Tagle. Advincula and Tagle, the Holy See’s pro-prefect for the dicastery for evangelization are the active cardinals.

David was auxiliary bishop of San Fernando, Pampanga before serving as bishop of the Diocese of Kalookan in 2015. He is a vocal critic of the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign, Caloocan was one of the hotspots of drug war killings.