Cardinal Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot will take possession of the Diakonia of Saint Jerome of Charity, on Via Giulia in Rome, next Saturday, February 8, 2020, at 6:30 pm., announced the Holy See Press Office today, February 4, 2020.

Along with 12 others, Pope Francis created Monsignor Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot Cardinal, a Comboni missionary and current President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, on October 5, 2019. It was in that 6th Consistory of the Holy Father, that the Pontiff assigned him the Diakonia of Saint Jerome of Charity on Via Giulia in Rome.

Monsignor Guixot

 Born in Seville, Spain, in 1952, he made his perpetual profession in the Institute of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus in 1980 and was ordained a priest that same year. He worked as a missionary in Egypt and Sudan until 2002.

Pope Francis appointed him Bishop in 2016, and he was consecrated Bishop of Luperciana in Saint Peter’s Basilica that same year.

An Expert in the Arab World

 According to the Archdiocese of Seville, this Prelate is considered one of the most excellent Arabic scholars of the world. In fact, he has a Licentiate in Arabic and Islamic Studies and, from 1989, was Professor of Islamic Studies, first in Khartoum and then in Cairo. Moreover, until 2012, he was Director of the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies.

He also presided over several meetings of inter-religious dialogue in Africa (Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Mozambique) and is the author of several books and articles published in international reviews. His trajectory in this field endorsed his appointment as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on June 30, 2012.

The Abu Dhabi Document

 In February of 2019, Monsignor Ayuso Guixot accompanied Pope Francis to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), where the Human Fraternity Document was signed, which the Prelate helped to write.

This document is an important step forward in the dialogue between Christians and Muslims. It resulted in the creation of a Higher Committee in which the Cardinal represents the Holy See.

Inter-Religious Dialogue

 Given his experience, his academic formation and his years of mission, Monsignor Ayuso said, in an interview with Zenit, that Pope Francis’ decision to create him Cardinal “has also been a recognition of the possible qualities I might have to collaborate with the Holy Father in promoting the inter-religious dialogue, which isn’t one option, but a vital option on which our future depends.”

At the same time, he asserted that he assumes “a very clear commitment as Cardinal to promote the inter-religious dialogue.”

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