The Holy See’s press office reported on January 25 that Pope Francis had appointed nine new members to the Pontifical Biblical Commission, including two women.
First, the Holy Father appointed the Spanish priest Andres Maria Garcia Serrano, who is currently a professor of the New Testament at the Ecclesiastical University of San Dámaso in Madrid (Spain).
In addition, the Pope appointed Fr. Marcin Kowalski, Professor of the New Testament at the Catholic University of Lublin (Poland), to Fr. Blažej Štrba, professor at Comenius University in Bratislava, Badín (Slovakia) and Fr. Philippe Lefebvre, OP, Professor of Old Testament at the University of Friborg (Switzerland).
Likewise, three current professors of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome will be members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission: Fr. Federico Giuntoli, professor of the Old Testament; P. Paul Béré, SI (Burkina Faso) and P. Henry Pattarumadathil, SI, (India).
Later, the Pope also appointed two lay teachers: Bénédicte Lemmelijn, Professor of Old Testament at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) and Maria Armida Nicolaci, Professor of Holy Scripture at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Sicily San Giovanni Evangelista, Palermo (Italy).
The Pontifical Biblical Commission is chaired by the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who is assisted by a vice-president (secretary).
The members of the Bible Commission, including the secretary, are appointed by the Holy Father, on the proposal of the cardinal president, for a renewable period of five years.
The body known today as the Pontifical Biblical Commission was established by Leo XIII with the apostolic letter “Vigilantiae studi” of October 30, 1902.
At that time, the Holy Father assigned a new function to the new institution: the effective promotion of Bible study among Catholics; to contrast with the scientific means the erroneous opinions regarding the matter of the Holy Scripture; study and shed light on debated and emerging issues in the Bible.