The Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue died this Monday, November 25 at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, at the age of 72. At the head of the dicastery since 2019, he had accompanied the Pope on almost all of his recent apostolic journeys. His state of health had forced him to undergo constant hospitalizations and operations in recent times. This Monday morning again, Francis had asked to pray for him.
Salvatore Cernuzio – Vatican City
A discreet, gentle character, of great intelligence, great knowledge and deep faith. He was often seen walking down Via della Conciliazione, praying in a low voice on the way to his office. This is how many remember Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, who died today, November 25, at the age of 72. He was hospitalized at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome. This Monday morning again, the Pope, during a speech given to an international Jain delegation in which representatives of the dicastery participated, mentioned the Spanish cardinal: “He is very ill, he is at the end of his life“, he said.
The cardinal had long-standing health problems that forced him into repeated hospitalizations and surgeries. This is why he was not able to accompany the Pope last September during the long trip to Southeast Asia and Oceania, where the interreligious component was strong. One of the manyfraternity trips», as the cardinal, a great connoisseur of Islam and the Arab world, liked to describe the visits of Pope Francis to countries where the Catholic Church is in the minority, to strengthen dialogue between religions, a priority of the pontificate. Trips in which the Spanish cardinal had always participated within the papal delegation.
In 2019, he notably experienced the trip to the United Arab Emirates and then to Morocco as secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and that of November to Thailand and Japan, as president of the same dicastery a few weeks after being created. cardinal, October 5, 2019. He was then present during the Pope’s historic trip to Iraq, in March 2021, the first after the forced break due to the pandemic. A pilgrimage, to the lands of Abraham, which, the cardinal said in interviews, had revitalized a tormented country: after the Pope’s visit, the world would not only remember him for the violence of war and the scenes of devastation, but also for the joy and joy of his people. Despite everything.
In 2022, the head of the dicastery accompanied the Pope to Kazakhstan and Bahrain, where he returned alone twice the following year to confer episcopal ordination on Mgr Aldo Berardi, apostolic vicar of North Arabia, and to the opening of the Holy Door in Abu Dhabi on the occasion of the jubilee of the martyrs of Arabia. It was also present in Mongolia in September 2023. Then the disease took over.
A great knowledge of Islam
The fifth in a family of nine children, deeply Catholic, Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot was born on June 17, 1952 in Seville, Spain. It is precisely the culture of this Andalusian city, where the tower of the cathedral – one of the largest churches in the world – was previously the minaret of a large mosque, which strongly influenced his sensitivity, as well as his family environment. . Initially, he attended the St. Antoine Marie Claret college and spent a year at the minor seminary of Seville. He then enrolled in the law faculty of the city’s university, while continuing to attend Church and spiritual retreats for young people. It was there that he came into contact with the magazine and publications of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus and decided, in September 1973, to enter the congregation. He made his final profession on May 2, 1980 and was ordained a priest on September 20 of the same year, then continued his studies in Rome, at the Pontifical Urban University and at the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (Pisai), where he obtained his license in 1982.
In October of the same year, he left on a mission for Egypt, parish priest in Cairo in the Latin community of the Sacred Heart in Abbassia, not far from Al-Azhar University, devoting himself to welcoming and assistance to young Sudanese Catholics present in the Egyptian capital as students, migrants or political refugees. This experience then led him to Sudan at the time of the civil war. In 2006, he became dean of Pisai.
In 2007, Bishop Ayuso was appointed consultant to the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. That year, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran was named president. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him secretary of the dicastery. Following the death of Cardinal Tauran, Francis named him prefect on May 25, 2019. An almost natural succession at the head of the Pontifical Council which deals with relations with other religions. From there, it was a succession of commitments, trips to the four corners of the world to testify to Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Shintoists, Confucians and traditional religions of the possibility of establishing fraternal dialogue and work together, considering each other “all brothers».
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