Pontifical Biblical Institute

Along with the Pontifical Oriental Institute, the Pontifical Biblical Institute was incorporated into the Pontifical Gregorian University under a single rector when the new statutes of the Gregorian took effect on 19 May 2024.

• Name — Pontifical Biblical Institute • Latin Name — Pontificium Institutum Biblicum • Founder — Pope Pius X • Mission — Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies • Focus — Catholic, Jesuit • President — Peter Dubovský, S.J. • Head Label — Rector • Head — P. Mark A. Lewis, S.J. • Location — Piazza della Pilotta Rome, Italy; Paul Emile Botta St. Jerusalem, Israel • Illustration — Biblical Institute, Rome • Illustration — Biblical Institute, Jerusalem

The Pontifical Biblical Institute, along with the Pontifical Biblical Institute Library, was founded by Pope Pius X in the apostolic letter Vinea Electa in 1909 as a centre of advanced studies in Holy Scripture. At first, the Institute prepared students for exams at the Pontifical Biblical Commission. In 1916, it was licensed by Pope Benedict XV to grant academic degrees in the name of the commission. In 1928, it was licensed by Pope Pius XI to grant doctorates in affiliation with the Pontifical Gregorian University, independently of the commission. A branch was opened in Jerusalem in 1927. In 1932, the Oriental Faculty was founded.

A branch was opened in Jerusalem by Alexis Mallon in 1927, which functions as a base of operations in the Holy Land for the school in Rome. It has a library and a museum, and currently offers to students registered for the licence in the Biblical Faculty three academic programs, which are part of their overall curriculum: a Biblical Hebrew program in collaboration with The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; courses in Biblical Aramaic, exegesis, theology, and biblical history, archaeology and geography at the École Biblique; and a course in biblical archeology and geography at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum.

The Museum of the PBI in Jerusalem contains two main parts: the Egyptian collection boasting a mummy, a coffin lid and the axe-head of Khufu; and the Teleilat Ghassul collection, named after the Jordan Valley type-site of the Ghassulian culture dating to the Chalcolithic, with wall paintings including a copy of the 'Ghassulian star', as well as pottery. The Jerusalem house received the mummy of the 2nd century BCE priest Iret-hor-iru as a gift from Jesuits in Alexandria one year after its establishment, in 1928.

All of its rectors have been Jesuit priests. Cardinal Bea is particularly noteworthy for having defended the university against charges of Modernism before the Second Vatican Council.

Among the prominent alumni of the Biblicum, the following were elevated to the episcopate and/or the cardinalate: