New cardinal thought it was a joke

Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David on Monday recounted his feelings after finding out Pope Francis picked him as one of the newest cardinals of the Catholic Church.

In a Facebook post, David said he was just enjoying a quiet Sunday morning at the Collegio Filippino in Rome, Italy after a heavy Synod schedule.

"After my late 'Coffee with Jesus' my phone started ringing. I ignored it because I was also preparing a homily for my 4 p.m. Mass at the Sta Pudenziana Church," David recounted.

"Besides, the call registered as an international call so I restrained myself from answering it because I'm using a Philippine SIM card, and the call would have been very expensive," he added.

David said he eventually realized that it must have been someone from the Vatican trying to reach him to inform him about the announcement that was going to be made by the Pope at noon after the Angelus.

Later at noon, David recalled, the procurator at the Collegio sent him a congratulatory message, and he texted back, "For what?"

The procurator broke the news that he was announced by the Pope as a Cardinal.

David said he could not believe it at first and thought it was a joke.

"That's when he called me up to say it could not be a joke because the Pope himself had announced it after the noon Angelus," he continued.

"He sent me the video cut-out from the newsfeed of Vatican news. Then I began to receive a deluge of messages. It felt like being caught in a whirlwind. I put down the phone and did a five-minute breathing exercise, which instantly calmed me down," he added.

On Sunday, Pope Francis appointed David as a new cardinal of the Catholic Church.

According to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, David would receive his red hat at a Vatican ceremony, known as a consistory, on 8 December, the Solemnity of Immaculate Conception.

The country’s other living cardinals are Gaudencio Rosales, archbishop emeritus of Manila and Orlando Quevedo, archbishop emeritus of Cotabato.

However, since both are over 80 years old, they can no longer take part in choosing a new pope.