Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, one in all 21 new cardinals named by Pope Francis, says this position isn’t an honor however a duty
MANILA, Philippines – Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, whom Pope Francis named a cardinal together with 20 others, stated a cardinal’s position is to assist the pontiff as “bridge-builder” between native church buildings and the common Catholic Church.
David, who’s in Rome for a month-long Vatican summit, defined his perspective when sought by Rappler for touch upon Monday, October 7, about being a cardinal in a “synodal” church.
“Synodal” — derived from the Greek time period syn-hodos, which implies “strolling collectively” — is without doubt one of the bywords underneath the 11-year-old papacy of Pope Francis. Referring to a extra consultative, dialogical method of continuing, the synodal path has been proposed as a “new method of being church.”
The synodal method, actually, is the topic of the historic Vatican meeting known as the Synod on Synodality, whose second session takes place from October 2 to 27. David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Convention of the Philippines, is one in all three CBCP delegates at this Vatican summit.
In his clarification of a cardinal’s position, David referred to the Pope’s perform as bishop of the Diocese of Rome, and as Pontifex Maximus or “supreme bridge-builder,” linking the middle to the peripheries as a “seen signal of unity” within the Catholic Church.
“I feel being cardinal in a synodal church means helping the Bishop of Rome in his ministry as a Pontifex Maximus (supreme bridge-builder) particularly between the native church buildings and the common Church,” David advised Rappler.
In a video uploaded by CBCP Information on Monday, David additionally stated in Filipino: “Being a cardinal isn’t an honor. It’s a duty.”
Bridging totally different faiths
Even earlier than he’s formally made a cardinal on December 8, nonetheless, David has performed points of this position as “bridge-builder” in the course of the Synod on Synodality on the Vatican. He has, for instance, spoken concerning the challenges posed by native migration to conventional parishes, in addition to the necessity to construct bridges with individuals of various faiths.
In an interview uploaded by Vatican Information on Monday, David stated the continuing second session of the Synod on Synodality “is our method of serving to out within the invitation of Pope Francis to propel the Church in mission — to cease being too self-referential and caring solely about ‘churchy’ points.”
He stated that is particularly necessary for Catholics from the World South, like Filipinos. He identified that whereas the Philippines is a predominantly Christian nation, for instance, in the remainder of Asia “Christianity is a tiny, tiny minority.”
David, a 65-year-old Bible scholar and human rights defender from Betis, Guagua, Pampanga, can also be the incoming vp of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, the meeting of Catholic bishops in Asia.
“We convey our voices additionally into the synod to make it possible for we stay open to intercultural, interreligious dialogue,” stated David on this interview that was recorded on Saturday, October 5, a day earlier than the Pope introduced he would change into a cardinal.
“I feel we’re discovering areas to have the ability to collaborate, to have the ability to stroll with individuals of different faiths, different religions, different denominations inside Christianity, to have the ability to work collectively for social justice for the poorest of the poor, for human rights, for the integrity of Creation. These are considerations which might be foremost among the many Asian individuals,” he added.
The vp of the CBCP, Pasig Bishop Mylo Hubert Vergara, stated Filipino bishops “are in nice jubilation” that David can be a cardinal.
“It is a recognition of the contribution of Bishop David to the Philippine Church as CBCP president, his invaluable work for the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), particularly in the course of the current FABC 50 Basic Convention, in addition to his energetic participation the Synod on the Phrase of God (2008) and the continuing Synod on Synodality (2021-2024),” Vergara stated in a press release.
Vergara additionally cited David’s resolution to place up “mission stations” or makeshift church buildings to serve distant communities within the Diocese of Kalookan, which David has led since 2016.
“The Pope’s selection of Bishop Ambo is constant together with his choice of cardinals who attain out to the peripheries, given Bishop Ambo’s institution of mission stations within the Diocese of Kalookan to raised serve the poorest of the poor,” Vergara stated.
Earlier than the Francis papacy, Filipino cardinals solely got here from both Manila or Cebu.
In additional than a decade as chief of the Catholic Church, the Pope has named three Filipino cardinals to this point. All three of them got here from dioceses whose bishops weren’t historically named cardinals: Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato, who was the first cardinal from Mindanao; Jose Advincula of Capiz, who later turned archbishop of Manila; and David of Kalookan. – Rappler.com
