The school, recognized by a decree of the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, is under the Pontifical Antonianum Athenaeum run by the Order of Friars Minor.
The school has a prestigious branch in Jerusalem, an evolution of what was the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (SBF).
To date, Rome had only one school for Scripture study — the Pontifical Biblical Institute, directed by the Society of Jesus.
Father Marco Nobile, rector of the Antonianum Athenaeum, told ZENIT that the «canonical erection of this first school of biblical and archaeological sciences is the maturation of the activity of the SBF, founded in 1901, which produced generations of experts."
The complementarity of studies between Rome and Jerusalem is one of the great attractions of the new school. «It is a very special experience to study sacred Scripture in the places where it originated,» the rector added.
