What is the Biblicum?
The Pontifical Biblical Institute is a university-level institution of the Holy See. It was established by Pope Pius X with the Apostolic Letter Vinea Electa of May 7, 1909, in order to be:
a center of higher studies for Sacred Scripture in the city of Rome and of all related studies according to the spirit of the Catholic Church.
Focus Areas
The Pontifical Biblical Institute has the following three focus areas:
Scholarly Research
To cultivate and promote, by means of scholarly research, the biblical and relevant ancient Near Eastern disciplines, in order to obtain “a more profound understanding and exposition of the meaning of Sacred Scripture” (Dei Verbum, §12).
Biblical Languages
To offer to the students, by the teaching and the practice of these various disciplines, in particular the biblical languages, an adequate preparation both for scholarly research and for the teaching and spread of Sacred Scripture and of the disciplines connected with it.
Educational Publications
To work toward “a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture, so that through preparatory study the judgment of the Church may mature” (Dei Verbum, §12) and that Sacred Scripture may have an ever more active role in the study of theology, in pastoral ministry, in ecumenical dialogue, in the sacred liturgy and in the reading of the faithful.
An indispensable means for the P.B.I. to achieve this task entrusted to it is a specialized library.
The P.B.I. has also its own publications, as well as a branch in Jerusalem.
Scholarly Research
To cultivate and promote, by means of scholarly research, the biblical and relevant ancient Near Eastern disciplines, in order to obtain “a more profound understanding and exposition of the meaning of Sacred Scripture” (Dei Verbum, §12).
Biblical Languages
To offer to the students, by the teaching and the practice of these various disciplines, in particular the biblical languages, an adequate preparation both for scholarly research and for the teaching and spread of Sacred Scripture and of the disciplines connected with it.
Educational Publications
To work toward “a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture, so that through preparatory study the judgment of the Church may mature” (Dei Verbum, §12) and that Sacred Scripture may have an ever more active role in the study of theology, in pastoral ministry, in ecumenical dialogue, in the sacred liturgy and in the reading of the faithful.
An indispensable means for the Institute to achieve this task entrusted to it is a specialized library.
The Pontifical Biblical Institute has also its own publications, as well as a branch in Jerusalem.
Program Offerings
The Biblicum offers two programs: Biblical Studies and Oriental Studies.
Approximately 100 courses are offered in Theology, History, Philosophy and Languages per year.
Faculty of Biblical Studies
The curriculum for the Licentiate in S. Scripture is comprised of not only the traditional exegetical focus on the biblical text, but also offers the student the possibility of an alternative emphasis: 1) either a specialization that focuses on the biblical context, or 2) another that focuses on the in-depth study of hermeneutics and the history of Bible interpretations.
Faculty of Oriental Studies
The Licentiate Curriculum in the Faculty of Oriental Studies provides a comprehensive but flexible program to prepare the students for specialized research in the principal languages and cultures of the Ancient Near East.
Vinea Electa
Vinea Electa is the annual information bulletin of the Alumni Association. The title derives from the Apostolic Letter of St. Pius X upon which the Institute was founded.
After the publication of two issues in experimental form (1999 and 2000), the regular publication began in 2001.
Featured Alumni
Among our diverse and talented alumni, the Pontifical Biblical Institute has graduated from several internationally renowned figures.
Cardinal Augustin Bea
President, Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity
Augustin Bea, S.J., was a German Jesuit priest and scholar at the Pontifical Gregorian University specialising in biblical studies and biblical archeology. He also served as the personal confessor of Pope Pius XII.
Cardinal Thomas Christopher Collins
Archbishop, Archdiocese of Toronto
Thomas Christopher Collins is a Canadian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the tenth and current Archbishop of Toronto, having previously served as Bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta (1997–1999) and Archbishop of Edmonton (1999–2006). On 6 January 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him a cardinal at the 18 February 2012 consistory.
Cardinal Prosper Grech
Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria Goretti
Prosper Grech was a Maltese Augustinian friar, who co-founded the Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome. He was created a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI on 18 February 2012. He was the second Maltese member of the College of Cardinals, the first since 1843.
Cardinal Franz König
Archbishop Emeritus, Archdiocese of Vienna
Franz König was an Austrian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of Vienna from 1956 to 1985, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958. The last surviving cardinal elevated by Pope John XXIII, he was the second-oldest and longest-serving cardinal worldwide at the time of his death.
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini
Archbishop Emeritus, Archdiocese of Milan
Carlo Maria Martini was an Italian Jesuit and cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Milan from 1980 to 2002 and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1983. A towering intellectual figure of the Roman Catholic Church, Martini was the liberal contender for the Papacy in the 2005 conclave, following the death of Pope John Paul II.
Cardinal John Onaiyekan
Archbishop Emeritus, Archdiocese of Abuja
John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan is a Nigerian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Abuja from 1994 to 2019 and was made a Cardinal in 2012. He has served as President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria and Bishop of Ilorin.
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi
President, Pontifical Council for Culture
Gianfranco Ravasi is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal since 2010, he has been President of the Pontifical Council for Culture since 3 September 2007. He headed Milan’s Ambrosian Library from 1989 to 2007.
Cardinal Peter Turkson
Prefect, Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development
Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson is a Ghanaian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 24 October 2009 to 1 January 2017. Pope Francis named him the first prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, which began operations on 1 January 2017.
Faculty
Rev. Agustinus Gianto, S.J.
Full Professors
Semitic Philology and Linguistics
Rev. Peter Dubovský, S.J.
Full Professors
Old Testament Exegesis
Pierre-Michel (Vincent) Laisney, O.S.B.
Full Professors
Egyptian Language and Literature
Craig E. Morrison, O.Carm.
Full Professors
Syriac and Targumic Aramaic
Rev. Dean Béchard, S.J.
Associate Professors
New Testament Exegesis
Rev. Michael Francis Kolarcik, S.J.
Associate Professors
Old Testament Exegesis
Ivan Hrusa, O.Carm.
Associate Professor
Akkadian Language and Literature
Federico Giuntoli, Pescia
Associate Professors
Old Testament Exegesis