By Roy Lagarde | CBCP News
October 19, 2023
CBCP president Bishop Pablo Virgilio David (2nd from left) was among the panelists at a press briefing on the ongoing Synod of Bishops in the Vatican on Oct. 18, 2023. SCREENSHOT FROM VATICAN NEWS VIDEO
ROME— Having attended a synod of bishops for the first time 15 years ago, a top Philippine churchman admitted that the ongoing Vatican summit is something that surprised him.
“It’s totally different,” said Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), at the synod’s daily press briefing on Wednesday.
Consistent with its theme of “synodality,” he noted that the current synod emphasizes equality among baptized Christians.
“Our equality and dignity, no matter if you’re cardinal or archbishop or whoever, we are basically a community of disciples equal in baptism,” the bishop said.