POPE Francis has decided to honor the Philippine Catholic Church by creating a new Filipino cardinal in the person of Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). This is the latest spiritual and political gift to the Filipino nation from the Roman Catholic Church. According to the Vatican, the pope will convene a consistory on December 8 to create 21 new cardinals, including David.

David would become the 10th Filipino cardinal since Pope St. John XXIII made Rufino J. Santos the first such cardinal in 1960. The 10 includes Cardinals Julio Rosales, Jaime Sin, Jose Tomas Sanchez, Ricardo Vidal, Gaudencio Rosales, Luis Antonio Tagle, Orlando Quevedo and Jose F. Advincula. Except for Julio Rosales and Vidal, who both served as archbishop of Cebu, Sanchez of Catanduanes, who served as archbishop of Nueva Segovia before being posted to the Vatican Curia, and Quevedo, who was archbishop of Cotabato, the rest all became archbishop of Manila.