Who Is Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, the Other Filipino 'Papabile'?

While the 2025 papal conclave is happening behind closed doors at the Sistine Chapel, the whole world is watching this particular story unfold through livestream coverage by local and international media outlets, blow-by-blow reportage, and even memes and status posts by everyone who has something to say about the ongoing election. The talk of the town, obviously, is the likely candidates to succeed the late Pope Francis, who died on April 21, 2025.

Unofficially, a possible candidate to be elected as pope is called 'papabile,' an Italian term coined by Vaticanologists (where Vaticanology is a 20th-century word used to describe the field of journalism and research specializing in the Holy See). In some cases, cardinal electors in a papal conclave vote for the papabili cardinals, but it is not always so, as in the cases of John XXIII (1958), John Paul I (1978), and John Paul II (1978). For the 2025 papal conclave, 89 votes from the 133 cardinal electors are required to be elected pope.

Two cardinals from the Philippines are seen as papabile, with the more famous one being Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, former archbishop of Manila. His likelihood of becoming one of the top contenders is due to the fact that Pope Francis appointed him as Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the missionary arm of the Church, in 2019. Dubbed the "Asian Francis," Cardinal Tagle would be the first Asian Pope in centuries should the Sistine Chapel's white smoke be in his favor.

And then there's Cardinal Pablo David, who is regarded by international media as the "dark horse" for his scathing criticism of former President and current ICC detainee Rodrigo Duterte's so-called "war on drugs."

Irish missionary Father Shay Cullen, in a press briefing in Rome organized by Bishop Accountability, reportedly expressed his support for Cardinal David.

"I support Cardinal Pablo 'Ambo' David, a human rights defender who stood up to the killings during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s regime. He denounced the abuses and insisted that crimes committed by clergy be judged in civil courts. He is a person of integrity, and it would be very positive if Cardinal David were elected pope, representing the Philippines," he reportedly said in a video conference. Cardinal David was one of the three priests arrested on September 23, 1972, during the declaration of Martial Law by late dictator and former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

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Who is Cardinal Pablo David?

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio Siongco David, born March 2, 1959, in Guagua, Pampanga, is currently the Bishop of Kalookan. Ambo, as he is fondly called, is the 10th of 13 children (seven boys and six girls) of Pedro David, a lawyer from Betis, and Bienvenida Siongco from Macabebe. His eldest brother is Randy David, a well-known Filipino journalist and professor emeritus of sociology at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

His path to the priesthood began at a young age, entering the Mother of Good Counsel Minor Seminary in San Fernando after finishing Grade 6 at the age of 10. At 14 years old, he was accepted at the San Jose Seminary at Ateneo de Manila University. In an article in PositivelyFilipino by Paulynn Paredes Sicam, Cardinal David's brother revealed that "Ateneo radicalized the young Ambo" at the height of Martial Law. He reportedly joined nationalist groups and learned about social inequality. He was later assigned to assist parish priests in peasant communities on the outskirts of Pampanga.

Cardinal was ordained a priest on March 12, 1983, for the metropolitan archdiocese of San Fernando. He then served as deputy parish priest for a year before being appointed as director of the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary until 1986.

His pursuit of theological knowledge led him to international studies from 1986 to 1991, including receiving a licentiate and doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and attending courses and receiving a diploma from the École Biblique de Jerusalem.

Upon his return to the Philippines, he continued to serve in educational roles within the archdiocesan seminary, eventually becoming the director of its Department of Theology in 2002. His dedication to biblical scholarship is evident in his numerous academic and popular publications on Holy Scripture. He was elected vice president of the Association of Catholic Biblists of the Philippines and vice president of the Archdiocesan Media Apostolate Networks in the same year.  

On May 27, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Titular Bishop of Guardialfiera and Auxiliary Bishop of San Fernando. This was followed by his appointment as Bishop of Kalookan by Pope Francis on October 14, 2015. It is in this diocese that Cardinal David's deep concern for the marginalized has become particularly evident. He has established 21 urban mission stations in impoverished areas, offering accompaniment, protection, and empowerment to communities grappling with the devastating impact of extrajudicial killings.  

Beyond his pastoral work, Cardinal David has taken on leadership roles within the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, elected as its President on July 8, 2021 (following four years as Vice President). He was recently elected as the next Vice President of the Federation of Bishops' Conferences of Asia (FABC).

He was proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the consistory of December 7, 2024, with the Title of Trasfigurazione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo.

Cardinal David speaks Kapampangan, Filipino, English, French, Flemish, German, Italian, and Spanish, and knows Latin, Greek, and Aramaic.

Cardinal David's Commitment to Social Justice

Cardinal David's courageous stance against the "war on drugs" under former President Rodrigo Duterte has brought him significant attention, even making him a target of threats. Despite these challenges, he has remained a vocal defender of human rights and social justice.  

When the issue of allowing blessings to same-sex couples came up in 2023 following Pope Francis' response, Cardinal David offered a "Filipino and Asian perspective." He observed the "strong tendency" in the culture of the northern hemisphere to label people based on gender, sexuality, politics, and religion.

"Where I come from, we’re just human beings. In the Filipino language, there is the same word for man and woman. If I’m talking about a person, I just say ‘tao’ and that ‘tao’ can be a man–male or female, a man or a woman," he proposed.

He is also a strong proponent of synodality in the Church, which emphasizes communal discernment and collaboration among priests and bishops. In 2023, he was elected as the Asian representative on the 7-member Commission on Information of that year's Synod of Bishops.