Pope appoints new Caloocan bishop

MANILA, Philippines – Pope Francis appointed 56-year-old Bishop Pablo David of San Fernando, Pampanga, as the new head of the Diocese of Caloocan.

According to the CBCPNews, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ official news service, the Diocese of Caloocan has been without a bishop since January 2013 after the resignation of Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez due to health reasons.

For more than two years, the diocese was administered by Antipolo Auxiliary Bishop Francisco De Leon.

David, a known Bible scholar, would be the second bishop of the diocese since its establishment in 2003. His installation is scheduled on Jan. 2 next year.

David was born on March 2, 1959 in Betis, Guagua, Pampanga. He was ordained a priest on March 12, 1983.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed him auxiliary bishop of San Fernando on May 27, 2006. He was ordained bishop on July 10, 2006.

David finished his college seminary formation at the Ateneo de Manila University’s San Jose Seminary with a Bachelor of Arts in Pre-Divinity degree.

He took his Master of Arts degree in Theology at the Loyola School of Theology, also in Ateneo, and proceeded to earn his Licentiate in Sacred Theology degree from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium in 1988.

The following year he took up his doctorate degree in Sacred Theology, also at the Catholic University of Louvain.

In the CBCP, David was member of the Permanent Council from 2007 to 2013.

He also chaired the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate from 2009 to 2015.

He is currently the vice chairman of the CBCP-Permanent Committee on Cultural Heritage.