Cardinal-elect two former presidents of the PISAI

It is with great joy that the PISAI has received the announcement by Pope Francis of the names of 13 new cardinals who will receive the red hat at a consistory on the 5th of October. The names include two former presidents of the PISAI: Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald, MAfr and Bishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot MCCJ, the current President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID).

Cardinal-elect Ayuso Guixot obtained a Licentiate in Arabic and Islamic Studies at PISAI and in 2000 a Doctorate in Theology at the University of Granada. He taught Islamic Studies for several years, first in Khartoum, then in Cairo, and finally in Rome, at PISAI, where he was successively Director of Studies from 2003 to 2006, and President from 2006 to 2012. On 30 June 2012, he was appointed Secretary of the PCID. Appointed titular Bishop of Luperciana by Pope Francis in January 2016, he was consecrated on the feast day of Saint Joseph of the same year. On 25 May 2019, Pope Francis appointed him President of the PCID, succeeding Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran.

Cardinal-elect Fitzgerald was the papal nuncio to Egypt and delegate to the Arab League from 2006 until his retirement in 2012. Previously he had been Secretary (1987-2002) and then President (2002-2006) of the PCID. Appointed titular Bishop of Nepte by Pope Saint John Paul II in December 1991, he was consecrated on 6 January 1992 and was elevated to archbishop on 1 October 2002 upon his appointment as President of the PCID. He worked at PISAI from 1968 to 1978, first in the role of lecturer and then as President (1972-1978). He currently ministers at the inner-city parish of St Vincent de Paul in Liverpool, in an area with a considerable migrant population.

To both of them the loving and joyful wishes of the academic community of the PISAI!