New cardinal Pablo Virgilio David thought news was a joke

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Caloocan on Monday said he thought that the news on his installation as a new cardinal of the Catholic Church was a joke.

In a Facebook post, David shared his messages with a procurator who first told him about the news while at the Pontificio Collegio Filippino in Rome on Sunday.

“Later at noon, the procurator at the Collegio sent me congratulatory message on WhatsApp. I texted back and said, ‘For what?’ He texted again and said, ‘Na-announce po na Cardinal kayo’ (You were announced as a cardinal),” David said.

“I texted back and said: ‘Joke?!’,” he added.

David said the procurator called him and said that Pope Francis himself made the announcement after the 12 noon Angelus in Vatican City. The procurator also sent him the video of Pope Francis making the announcement.

“Then I began to receive a deluge of messages. It felt like being caught in a whirlwind. I put down the phone and did a five minute breathing exercise, which instantly calmed me down,” said.

“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, ‘Ok, Lord. My life is in your hands’,” he added.

Before this, David said he received some international calls but he just ignored them because he was preparing for his 4 p.m. mass at the Sta. Pudenziana Church. 

“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 said.

“Haha, now I realize it must have been someone from the Vatican trying to reach me to inform me about the announcement that was going to be made by the Pope at 12 noon after the Angelus,” he added.

David, who also serves as president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), is among the 21 new cardinals who are set to be installed in a consistory scheduled for December 8, 2024. 

He will become only the tenth Filipino to be elevated to the position.

Cardinals rank second only to the pope in the Church hierarchy and serve as his closest advisers. Their historical power and influence means they are still called the princes of the Church, though Francis has told them not to live like royalty and to be close to the poor.—Joviland Rita/AOL, GMA Integrated News