President, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue

His Eminence Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, has always been active in interreligious dialogue, teaching in both Cairo and Rome as well as writing several notable publications on issues related to Christian-Muslim dialogue. Born in Seville, Spain, on 17 June 1952, Cardinal Ayuso Guixot was ordained a priest in 1980 after joining the Comboni Missionaries, a Catholic Institute of Priests.  From 1982 to 2002, he served as a parish priest in Egypt and Sudan. In 1982, he obtained a licentiate in Arabic and Islamic Studies, from the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) and from 1983, he taught Islamology and Interreligious Dialogue while in Khartoum, in Cairo and afterwards at the PISAI in Rome. From 2005 to 2012, he was Director of the same PISAI, until His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) on 30 June 2012.  On 19 March 2016 he received the episcopal consecration by His Holiness Pope Francis in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. On 25 May 2019 he was nominated as President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue by Pope Francis. Cardinal Ayuso Guixot was appointed Cardinal deacon in the consistory.