Diego Sarrió Cucarella new President of PISAI

We are happy to announce the appointment of Fr. Diego Sarrió Cucarella, M.Afr., as President of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI). Fr Diego is a member of the Society of Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers). He has worked in Sudan, Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia, where he directed the Bibliothèque des Sciences des Religions, at Tunis, and was part of the Groupe de recherches islamo-chrétien (GRIC). He holds a licentiate in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the PISAI and a PhD in Theological and Religious Studies from Georgetown University. His research and publications focus on the intellectual history of Muslim-Christian relations and the continuing reciprocal theological constructions that this history has bequeathed to Christians and Muslims today. In January 2014, Fr Diego came back to the PISAI as lecturer of Islamic Theology, Qur’anic studies and Arabic grammar. He also served as Dean of Studies of PISAI until his recent appointment as President. We take the occasion to thank Fr. Valentino Cottini for the past six years of dedicated service as President of PISAI. Fr. Valentino will continue to serve the PISAI as member of the faculty and editor of our journal Islamochristiana.