by Santosh Digal

The 65-year-old bishop of Kalookan is one of three Filipino cardinals in the conclave. As a priest, bishop, and then cardinal he always showed a missionary attention for the downtrodden. He was the strongest voice against former President Duterte's "war on drugs" and promoted rehabilitation programmes for drug addicts. He warns against looking at the conclave as a horse race, highlighting the sacredness of the election of a pontiff.

Manila (AsiaNews) – One of the distinctive qualities of Card Pablo Virgilio Siongco David, bishop of Kalookan, National Capital Region, is his care for the downtrodden.

The 65-year-old prelate has always nurtured a sincere passion for social justice and has actively engaged with marginalised groups, regardless of his status as a priest, bishop or cardinal. His hallmark has been to go to the fringes of society with pastoral care, compassion and commitment.

Since he became bishop of Caloocan in 2016, Card David has set up about 20 mission stations within his diocese "to better serve the poorest of the poor.” The diocese covers the cities of Caloocan, Navotas and Malabon, home to 1.3 million people.

Most local Catholics are poor, informal settlers and internal migrants who move from rural areas to the cities in search of work. They live in crowded slums, without many basic amenities and habitable surroundings.

Lacking opportunities for work, housing, education, health care and welfare programs, they are victims of exploitation and injustice that violate their freedom, human rights and dignity.

To meet their pastoral needs and concerns, the cardinal launched the Urban Poor Ministry in cooperation with other Church organisations.

He also called on several congregations to work in mission stations for vulnerable communities facing poverty, human trafficking, which is particularly felt in the Southeast Asia, migration and extrajudicial executions.

With a special ministry dedicated to the prevention of exploitation and the protection of vulnerable communities, Card David has relentlessly defended their rights and dignity.

In October 2024, at a meeting of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, which he chairs for a second consecutive term, the cardinal stressed that “addressing poverty is essential to building a Church that truly serves the poor.”

According to him, the Church must recognise and respect the dignity of the poor. “If the poor don’t come to the Church, the Church must go to them,” David said in 2024.

The bishop of Kalookan is also involved with prisoners and people deprived of their liberty, especially young offenders, who often languish for a long time in a cell without access to legal procedures.

In this regard, the cardinal stressed that taking care of prisoners is a Christian duty and so he often visits prisoners, interacts with them, and celebrates Mass in prisons, as did Pope Francis.

The prelate has also been able to stand up to former President Rodrigo Duterte and his brutal war on drugs, expressing his disapproval of the transformation of the diocese into a deadly battlefield for innocent people.

Despite Duterte's many tirades against the Church and its leaders, including the cardinal himself, David took action to follow up the wave of violence and killings by creating a team for the correct documentation of the facts.

The cardinal remains one of the most outspoken critics of Duterte's war on drugs, condemning drug-related killings and urging respect for human dignity.

The prelate also initiated a community-based drug rehabilitation programme, based on three main aspects: patient care, family care, and community care.

He even set aside a special place to bury the poor and drug addicts, victims of Duterte's war, who did not have the means for a dignified funeral while their families waited for justice in the courts.

Card David says he is aligned with Pope Francis’s vision for a more welcoming and listening Church, which is something that requires continuous efforts. When the pontiff died on 21 April, the cardinal said that he was a "builder of bridges."

The bishop of Kalookan, one of three Filipino cardinals created by the late pontiff, said that, “Francis was a shepherd who walked with his people, often choosing the dusty road toward the peripheries rather than the comfort of the centre,” David said.

Following the pope’s example, he shared some of the pontiff’s priorities and principles such as visiting the peripheries, promoting a synodal Church, and highlighting the inclusive and welcoming nature of the Church, which ought to be a “field hospital – welcoming, healing, and journeying together”.

In recent days, he talked critically about the process of finding a successor, warning against those who see the conclave as a horse race or TV show.

“Creating or sharing campaign videos, even with good intentions, risks turning a sacred discernment into a worldly spectacle,” David said. “It may inadvertently pressure or politicize the conscience of the electors, and distract from the silence and prayer needed to truly hear the voice of the Spirit,” he added. “Instead, let us accompany the electors with our prayers, not our preferences. Let us fast from speculation and feast on hope.”

“If we must speak, let us strive to speak words of encouragement, not endorsement. If we must share something online, let it be Scripture, reflections that edify, prayers that nurture faith, strengthen hope, and foster love – love that alone can bring about justice and peace, mercy and compassion, healing and reconciliation in our wounded world”. 

Indeed, “We found a role model for this in Pope Francis himself. To walk in his memory is to keep alive his spirit,” David stressed.

• vatican
• conclave
• pope francis
• succession
• philippines
• bishop pablo david