David on elevation to cardinal: No big deal

MANILA, Philippines — His elevation into the College of Cardinals was “no big deal” for the Philippines’ 10th cardinal, said Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio Cardinal David. 

In his homily during a thanksgiving mass at the San Roque Cathedral Parish in Caloocan City yesterday, David said he was asked about how he was coping with what was happening in his life since Pope Francis declared him as one of the 21 new cardinals or princes of the Catholic Church last October. 

“I said I took the consistory in Rome and being made a cardinal is no different from any other ordinary day in my life. No big deal,” said the new cardinal, who is also the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

David flew home to the Philippines past midnight yesterday after Pope Francis made him a cardinal during the event called “Ordinary Public Consistory For The Creation Of New Cardinals” at St. Peter’s Basilica last Dec. 7. 

He added in his homily he might have followed the advice of Pope Francis to “not take things too seriously and take it with a grain of God’s humor” when they met before his elevation.

The new cardinal talked about “kenosis” – Jesus’ “self-emptying” as written in Philippians 2:7 – which is his motto as bishop of Kalookan. He explained that the red vestments worn by the cardinal reminded him “of the ‘self-emptying’ love of Jesus, being always ready to lay down one’s life, especially for the undeserving, for sinners.”

He added Jesus’ kenosis – signified by his crucifixion that was then an ancient form of torture and death penalty – was “transformed into something beautiful. It meant unconditional love, learning to love like the love of God.” 

He reminded Catholics they should be “ready for whatever sacrifice, not ever giving up on any fellow human being.” 

“There are no inherently evil people in this world. God did not create evil human beings, even if humans are capable of the most evil kinds of actions,” he pointed out.

Fr. Jeronimo Ma. Cruz, vicar general of the Diocese of Kalookan, declared David would become a “good shepherd caring for every single person and telling them all that each and everyone is important.”

Cruz commended the new cardinal for “fighting for the dignity and worth of every single person” and “risking his life proclaiming the truth against all odds,” as well as “fighting against extrajudicial killings (EJKs) where our diocese was at the center of it all.” 

David, the first cardinal from the Philippines who was not an archbishop, was a vocal critic of the bloody war on drugs of the Duterte administration. 

Among those who attended David’s thanksgiving mass was Papal Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Charles Brown, fellow bishops, priests and seminarians from the Diocese of Kalookan, his family and families of EJK victims and indigent children undergoing various programs of the diocese.