Cardinal David on Pope Francis death: He made me weep like a son
The late Pope Francis and Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David. — Photo from Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David/Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — Over a month after Pope Francis died, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David reflected on his passing, sharing that the late pontiff made him “weep like a son weeps for a father.”
David recalled the late pope’s final public appearance on Easter Sunday, pointing out that despite looking tired with his labored breath, “he (was) still giving everything he (had).”
“Then came that gentle wave of the hand — hesitant, tender, almost like a whisper. It felt like a goodbye,” David wrote on his Facebook page.
And when Easter Monday came, David shared that he received a phone call from his friend who knew Pope Francis when he was still Cardinal Jorge Mario Beroglio from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
When he received the devastating news, David said that he “felt a weight a press down upon” him and started recalling his encounters with the late pope.
“He made me weep like a son weeps for a father. Because somehow, in the depth of his gaze, in the tenderness of his voice, in the gravity of his silences — I had felt fathered,” David further wrote.
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It was Pope Francis who appointed David as one of the new cardinals of the Catholic Church in October 2024. David, who was unaware of the news, even thought that his appointment was a joke.
David was formally elevated to the rank of cardinal during a consistory at St. Peter’s Basilica in December 2024.
David is currently the bishop of Kalookan and the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippine since 2021.
‘A different kind of papacy’
David described the late pontiff’s papacy as a “different kind of papacy,” emphasizing that it was one that “breathed,” “listened,” and “walked barefoot across the burning sand of the world’s pain.”
Pope Francis, who was regarded as a radical pope for his progressiveness, was widely known to have fought injustices and brought the Church closer to the people, especially the poor and the marginalized.
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“Above all, he reminded us — by word and by life — that God’s name is mercy. That the Church must be a field hospital, not a fortress. That we must not merely admire Jesus from a distance but follow him — closely, humbly, vulnerably,” David emphasized.
David participated in the papal conclave, or the selection of the next leader of the Catholic Church, in the Vatican.
The conclave named Robert Francis Prevost, who took the name of Pope Leo XIV, as the new pope. /das
