Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan will receive an honorary doctor of humanities degree from the Holy Angel University in Pampanga province on December 1.
The incoming president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines will be made an honorary doctor “for his inspirational leadership in Church and community.”
The citation also made reference for his “tireless work of evangelization” as writer, homilist, cultural heritage worker, and advocate for the environment, as well as “for his courage to care for the poorest of the poor, defend the defenseless and empower the marginalized.”
The university, which is based in Angeles City, particularly noted Bishop David’s vocal stand against the spate of killings in the government’s war on drugs.
The 62-year old bishop also expanded his diocese’s mental health ministry to assist the victims’ widows and orphans.
Bishop David will be the university’s ninth honorary doctor, after business leaders Manuel V. Pangilinan, Washington SyCip and Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, educators Christopher and Victoria Bernido, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, former Central Bank governor Amando Tetangco Jr. and former Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr.
Born in Betis, Guagua, Pampanga, Bishop David studied at the Mother of Good Counsel Minor Seminary of the San Fernando archdiocese and later at the San Jose Major Seminary at the Ateneo de Manila University.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in Pre-Divinity from the Ateneo, his master’s degree in Theology from the Loyola School of Theology, and both his licentiate and doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.
He has also trained at the École Biblique et Archeologique Française de Jerusalem, and is now considered one of the country’s leading Bible experts.
Ordained priest for San Fernando in 1983, he became the archdiocese’s auxiliary bishop in 2006.
In October 2015, David, who is also the current CBCP vice president, was appointed as bishop of Kalookan.
Holy Angel University Board of Trustees Chairperson S. Josefina Nepomuceno, OSB and the university’s OIC President Leopoldo Jaime Valdes will confer the honorary doctorate to the bishop.
The conferment ceremonies will be held during a special academic convocation to be livestreamed from the university’s Facebook page.
