Bishop Miguel Ayuso Guixot, President of the Council for Interreligious Dialogue and a KAICIID Board Member, has been appointed Cardinal by His Holiness Pope Francis.

Earlier this year, Cardinal-elect Ayuso was appointed President of the Council, succeeding the late Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran.  Since 2012, he had served as Secretary to the Council and played a role in the proclamation in Abu Dhabi by His Holiness and Grand Imam Ahmed al Tayeb of Cairo’s al Azhar Mosque of the historic joint Declaration on Human Fraternity.

On 1 September, Pope Francis announced the names of thirteen prelates who are to receive the designation at a consistory, a formal meeting of the College of Cardinals, which will be held in the first week of October.

"Their provenance expresses the missionary vocation of the Church to continue to announce the merciful love of God to all men on Earth”, Pope Francis said upon naming the chosen Cardinals.

The newly appointed Cardinals come from Canada, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Indonesia, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Cardinal-elect Ayuso, who was consecrated Bishop in March 2016 to the Titular See of Luperciana, is a renowned authority on Muslim-Christian relations and has taught in Cairo as well as Rome. He has been a member of KAICIID’s interreligious Board of Directors since the Centre’s establishment and he also represents the Holy See on the Centre’s Council of Parties.

He served as President of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies and has taught courses in interreligious dialogue and participated in meetings and conferences in Australia and countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe. In addition to his native Spanish, Cardinal-elect Ayuso speaks Arabic, English, French and Italian.