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Cardinal Orlando Beltran Quevedo, O.M.I., the newest cardinal from the Philippines, is a dedicated servant of the poor who has advocated for peace between Christians and Muslims in the country.
Cardinal Quevedo, 75, suggested that the Pope selected him due to his interest in poverty, social justice issues and basic ecclesial communities. He also credited the work of past Filipino cardinals who advocated for a cardinal from Mindanao, the southernmost major island of the Philippines which has never had a prelate in the College of Cardinals. The new cardinal has worked for peace during times of tensions between Christian and Muslim Filipinos, especially the Muslim Moro people native to Mindanao. In an influential 2003 paper, he said the root cause of the Moro Muslim insurgency was “injustice” toward the Moro people’s identity, their political sovereignty, and their “integral development.” He examined the mistreatment of the Moro people and historic tensions with Spanish and American colonialism and with Filipino Christians. He called for the overcoming of “prejudices and biases,” with Muslim and Christian leaders needing to play “a major role.” He credited a change in his own understanding of the situation to his time teaching, advising, conversing and being with Muslim students and professionals. The cardinal’s elevation was honored at a March 2014 banquet in the Philippines’ Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The region’s vice governor, Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman, said that the cardinal is “not only a man of God but also a champion of Muslim human rights,” the Manila Bulletin reports
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