The President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David recounted how he learned about being named by Pope Francis as one of the new cardinals of the Catholic Church, along with 20 others.
While resting at the Pontificio Collegio Filippino in Rome on a Sunday, after a demanding first week of a monthlong Vatican summit, the 65-year-old bishop received the news.
"After my late “Coffee with Jesus” my phone started ringing. I ignored it because I was also preparing my Sunday homily for my 4pm Mass at the Sta Pudenziana Church," said David in a Facebook post on early Monday.
"Besides, the call registered as an international call so I restrained myself from answering it because I’m using a Philippine SIM card and the call would have had to pass through the Philippines and would have been very expensive," he added.
Upon hearing the news, the bishop realized that the earlier call must have been from someone trying to inform him about the Pope's announcement.
David shared that later that noon, the procurator at the Collegio sent him a congratulatory message on WhatsApp, to which he replied, "For what?"
In a screenshot he shared on his social media account, the bishop initially mistook the news as a joke.
"That’s when he called me up to say it could not be a joke because the Pope himself had announced it after the 12noon Angelus. And he sent me the video cut-out from the newsfeed of Vatican news," David mentioned.
Shortly after, the bishop received an overwhelming flood of messages, describing the experience as if he were caught in a whirlwind.
"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," said David.
"I said, 'Ok, Lord. My life is in your hands'" he added.
Pope Francis announced David's appointment as the new cardinal during his weekly Sunday Angelus address.
With this new role, David is now one of the Pope's trusted advisers and part of the group responsible for selecting his successor.
David will become the 10th Filipino cardinal and will join the three active Filipino cardinals eligible to participate in a papal conclave.
Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery of Evangelization at the Vatican, and Jose Advincula, Tagle's successor as archbishop of Manila, complete the list of active Filipino cardinals.
A consistory on December 8 will officially confer David's title as cardinal.
