New Auxiliary Bishop for Pampanga

Benedict XVI has appointed father Pablo Virgilio Siongco David as Auxiliary Bishop of San Fernando, Pampanga. The news of his appointment was announced in Rome on Saturday, May 27, at 12 noon, Roman time. It was released simultaneously here in the Philippines by His Excellency Archbishop Fernando Filoni, the new Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, at 6:00 p.m., our time.

Father David was 47 years old on March 2, 2006. Born in Betis, Guagua, Pampanga, he comes from a family of twelve children - six boys and six girls. All of his six sisters and five brothers are college graduates, professionals.

His Elementary and High School education was done in Pampanga, his college at Ateneo de Manila University. He entered San Jose Seminary at Loyola Heights, Quezon City, in 1974, and was ordained a priest at the age of 24, by Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz.

He earned his M.A. in Theology at the Loyola School of Theology; his Licentiate and Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium; and went in for special studies in Scripture at the Ecole Biblique et Archeologique Francaise de Jerusalem.

Here in the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary, in San Fernando, Pampanga, he held the positions of Director of Philosophy, Dean of the Graduate School of Theology, and the Director of the Formation Theology Department.

In the Archdiocese of San Fernando, Pampanga, he was the Director of the Pastoral Secretariat; Director for the Ongoing Formation of the Clergy; Director of the Archdiocesan Commission on Clergy Affairs; and for the last three years Vice-President of the Archdiocesan Media Apostolate, Networks Unlimited, Inc.

Over the last 14 years he has also served as Guest Professor of Scriptures at Maryhill School of Theology and at Loyola School of Theology. At this moment he is the Vice-President of the Catholic Biblical Association of the Philippines, and specializes in Biblical Courses for Lay People.

Father David, after he has been consecrated Bishop, will join Roberto Calasa Mallari as Auxiliary to Archbishop Paciano B. Aniceto. The Archbishop is 69 years old, with six full years ahead of him before he reaches the age of compulsory retirement. Archbishop Aniceto has been very active as the Chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Family and Life.

This is the second Episcopal appointment that has been announced by Archbishop Fernando Filoni, in his first week as Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.

Bio-data of Fr. Pablo Virgilio Siongco David, click here