"Not even in my wildest imagination did I think this would happen," said Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, describing the day he found out that he had been appointed a cardinal.
He was speaking to the BBC at his cathedral in Caloocan, on the outskirts of the Philippine capital Manila. He was leaving the next day for Rome to join the conclave, one of three cardinals from the country who will take part in choosing the next pope.
"Normally you would expect archbishops to become cardinals, but I am only a humble bishop of a little diocese where the majority of the people are slum dwellers, urban poor, you know.
"But I thought just maybe, for Pope Francis, it mattered that we had more cardinals who are really grounded there."
Cardinal David has only been in the job for five months, after his surprise elevation last December. But in some ways he personifies the late pontiff's legacy in his country.
Pope Francis had set himself the goal of bringing a Catholic church he believed had lost its common touch, back closer to the people.
"Apu Ambo", as Cardinal David is affectionately called by his congregation, fits that mission well, having spent his life campaigning for the poor and marginalised.
