FABC Officials Elevated to Cardinals

Bangalore, October 7, 2024 (CCBI): Bishop Pablo Virgilio Siongco David (65), Vice President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) and Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi (65), Secretary General of the FABC, are set to be elevated to the rank of Cardinal. The announcement was made by Pope Francis on October 6, 2024. The consistory for their formal elevation will take place on December 8, 2024.

Both Cardinal-designates were elected to their respective FABC roles during the Central Committee meeting held in Bangkok from February 19 to 22, 2024. They will assume office in January 2025, alongside Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, President of the CCBI, who was also elected President of the FABC.

Bishop Pablo Virgilio Siongco David fondly known as Bishop Ambo, was born on March 2, 1959, in Betis, Guagua, Pampanga, Philippines. He was ordained a priest on March 12, 1983, for the Archdiocese of San Fernando. From 1986 to 1991, he studied at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, earning a Licentiate and later a Doctorate in Sacred Theology.

He was appointed Titular Bishop of Guardialfiera and Auxiliary of San Fernando by Pope Benedict XVI on May 27, 2006, before being transferred to the Diocese of Kalookan on October 14, 2015. Bishop David was elected President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in 2021 and re-elected in 2023.

Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi was born on November 1, 1958, He entered the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) and was ordained a priest on March 15, 1986. He worked as a missionary in Ghana, West Africa, before being appointed Bishop of Niigata on September 20, 2004. On October 25, 2017, he was appointed Archbishop of Tokyo.

Archbishop Kikuchi is the President of Caritas Japan and Caritas Asia, and a member of the Representative Council of Caritas Internationalis. He was first elected Secretary General of the FABC in 2021 and re-elected in February 2024. He also serves as President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan (CBCJ).

Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão who currently serves as President of both the CCBI and FABC, was created Cardinal by Pope Francis in the consistory of August 27, 2022. He has been President of the CCBI since its 31st Plenary Assembly in 2019 and was re-elected during its 33rd Assembly in 2022.

The tradition of elevating Presidents of major national episcopal conferences to the College of Cardinals continues with these appointments, a precedent set by Cardinals Telesphore Toppo (1939-2023) in 2003 and Oswald Gracias in 2007, both of whom were Presidents of the CCBI at the time of their elevation.

By Dr. Stephen Alathara