Diego Sarrió Cucarella
Born in Spain, Diego Sarrió Cucarella was the president of the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI, Rome) from 2018 to 2024, where he teaches Arabic, Muslim theology, the Qur’an, and tafsīr (exegesis). He also teaches Islamic studies at the Pontifical Lateran University. He is the interim director of the scientific journal Islamochristiana, published by PISAI.
His research and publications focus on the intellectual history of Christian-Muslim relations and the theological perspectives bequeathed by this history to contemporary Christians and Muslims. Holding a degree in Arabic and Islamic studies from PISAI (canonical license), he earned a doctorate in theological and religious studies from Georgetown University with the thesis “The Mirror of the Other: The Splendid Responses of Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qarāfī,” an Egyptian Muslim scholar of the 13th century.
A member of the Society of Missionaries of Africa, better known as the “White Fathers,” Diego Sarrió Cucarella has lived in Sudan, Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia, where he directed the Library of Religious Sciences and was part of the Christian-Islamic Research Group. He is also a consultor at the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue of the Vatican.
Resources of this researcher
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publication
Islamochristiana Journal 49 (2024): “Maurice Borrmans and Mohamed Talbi: From Friendship to Rupture”
- David Marshall
- Diego Sarrió Cucarella
- Rémi Caucanas
- Michel Younès
- Geneviève Gobillot
- Florence Javel
- Yosra Garmi
- Tobias Specker
The title of this issue, “Maurice Borrmans and Mohamed Talbi: From Friendship to Rupture,” was suggested to us by a collection of articles that highlight different aspects of the relati...
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videos
Online Symposium: Islamic Origins & Christian Theological Engagement with Islam
- Diego Sarrió Cucarella
- Gabriel Said Reynolds
- Michel Younès
- David Marshall
Panelists David Marshall, University of Bern (Moderator), Guest Editor of Islamochristiana Martin Accad, Arab Baptist Theological Seminary Daniel Brown, ISRME Diego Sarrio Cucarella, PISAI Sandra K...
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The document on human fraternity: an interdisciplinary reflection
- Diego Sarrió Cucarella
- Laurent Basanese
The volume, published in the series “Interreligious and Intercultural Investigations” (No. 14), brings together contributions from ten international scholars on the Document on Human Fr...
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article
Lavigerie and Islam, an ambiguous legacy
- Diego Sarrió Cucarella
In a recent article on the contribution of the White Fathers to the renewal of Catholic attitudes towards Islam, Rémi Caucanas rightly notes that their founder’s legacy “was not without ambiguity”...
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Corresponding across Religious Borders: The Letter of al-Qūṭī
- Diego Sarrió Cucarella
Summary : This article provides an introduction to the Letter of al-Qūṭī, a short anti-Islamic polemic in Arabic purportedly written by an unknown priest active in Toledo in the mid-1140s, as we...
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Blessed Ramon Llull: the character and his relationship with Islam
- Diego Sarrió Cucarella
The PISAI is pleased to announce the publication of the book Il beato Raimondo Lullo: il personaggio e il suo rapporto con l’Islam (Roma 2021), edited by Professor Diego Sarrió Cucarella, MAf...
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‘On how to discern the truth of religion’, by Hunayn b. Isḥāq. The impersonal recension
- Diego Sarrió Cucarella
Abstract This article contributes to the study of Christian Arabic literature by providing an introduction and English translation of the treatise entitled Kayfiyyat idrāk ḥaqīqat al-diyāna, ‘On ho...
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Islam and Belonging. Proceedings of the PLURIEL 2nd International Congress
- Michel Younès
- Anna Hager
- Laurent Basanese
- Diego Sarrió Cucarella
After its first international congress in Lyon from 6 to 9 September 2016 on the theme “Islam in the Plural: Faith, Thought, Society”[1], the current study brings together the proceedin...
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Medieval Muslim Polemics against the Christian Creed : The Critique of ṢĀLIḤ B. AL-ḤUSAYN AL-ǦA‘FARĪ (D. 668/1270)
- Diego Sarrió Cucarella
Abstract After introducing Ṣāliḥ b. al-Ḥusayn al-Ǧa‘farī (d. 668/1270), the Egyptian Muslim author of an important work of anti-Christian polemic entitled Taḫǧīl man ḥarrafa al-Tawrāh wa-l-Inǧīl (‘...
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Corresponding across Religious Borders. The Letter of Ibn Taymiyya to a Crusader in Cyprus
- Diego Sarrió Cucarella
SUMMARY: Presentation of Taqī al–dīn Aḥmad ibn Taymiyya‘s Al–risāla al–qubruṣiyya, a letter written to a crusader baron in Cyprus, probably John II of Giblet, sometime between early 1303 and mid–13...
Resources related to
Muslim-Christian Dialogue
article
Kenneth Cragg and the Event of the Qur’an
- Timo Güzelmansur
Article by Timo Güzelmansur published under the title Kenneth Cragg und das Ereignis des Koran on the theological portal feinschwarz.net (12 June 2026, open access). Timo Güzelmansur presents the A...
article
Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and the Pluriel working group on AI-assisted interreligious dialogue
- Wael Saleh
Text by Wael Saleh, researcher at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and member of the Pluriel coordination committee. The simultaneous appearance of Leo XIV's encyclical Magnifica Human...
publication
The Recognition of a Hummingbird. Essays on Interreligious Dialogue and Missionary Work (2007-2025)
- Rémi Caucanas
Published in May 2026 by PISAI (Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome), this collection brings together the essays of Rémi Caucanas on interreligious dialogue and missionary wor...
videos
From Lavigerie to PISAI: The Institutional History of the Missionaries of Africa’s Engagement with Islam
Delivered on 21 May 2026 at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome, this lecture opens the series of conferences marking the institute's centenary (1926-2026). Fr. ...
videos
Interreligious Dialogue and Ethnic Nationalisms in the Balkans
At the invitation of PISAI (Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome) and Georgetown University, Ahmet Alibašić, professor of Islamic civilization at the Faculty of Islamic Studies...
publication
For a Christian Theology of Religions
- Michel Younès
Faced with contemporary religious diversity, how can Christian theology make sense of the place that other religions occupy in God’s design? Michel Younès examines the three traditional ̶...
publication
Intercultural Theology
- Jean Patrick Nkolo Fanga
Because every theology is culturally situated, Christian theology is inevitably multicultural. Yet one step remains to be taken: to become intercultural. Crossing languages, contexts, origins, ages...
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Bells and Muezzin in Harmony: Dialogue with Islam as a Spiritual Responsibility
- Timo Güzelmansur
Article by Timo Güzelmansur published under the title Glocken und Muezzin im Einklang. Der Dialog mit dem Islam als geistliche Verantwortung in Herder Korrespondenz (special issue devoted to Pope L...