Núria Calduch i Benages (also Calduch-Benages, born 26 March 1957) is a Spanish nun, biblical scholar and

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

official. She is a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and specialises in the wisdom books of the Old Testament. Calduch i Benages is the first woman to be Secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Education

Calduch i Benages graduated in Philosophy and Literature from the

Autonomous University of Barcelona The Autonomous University of Barcelona (; Spanish: ; ; UAB) is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. , the university consists of 57 departments in the experimental, lif ...

in 1979 and earned a doctorate in Sacred Scripture from the

Pontifical Biblical Institute The Pontifical Biblical Institute (also known as Biblicum) is a research and postgraduate teaching institution specialised in biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies located in Rome. Founded in 1909 by Pope Pius X, it is an institution of the ...

in Rome. She is a member in the congregation of Missionary Daughters of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

Career

Calduch i Benages is a professor at the

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

since 2010 and a guest professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. She is considered an authority in the study of the wisdom books of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, his resignation on 28 Februar ...

appointed Calduch i Benages as an expert of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God celebrated in 2008, and

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

appointed her as a member of the

Study Commission on the Women's Diaconate Pope Francis created two Study Commissions on the Women's Diaconate, the first in August 2016 to review the theology of women deacons and their nature in the first centuries of the Catholic Church, and a second in April 2020 following discussion ...

in 2016. The committee had the role of investigating the role of women deacons in the early Church. The committee’s report was not published, and a second Commission was established in 2020, with a new membership. On 9 March 2021, Pope Francis chose Calduch i Benages to be the Secretary of the

Pontifical Biblical Commission The Pontifical Biblical Commission () is a pontifical commission established within the Roman Curia to ensure the proper interpretation and defense of the Bible. Since 1988, it has been closely attached to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the ...

, making her the first woman to reach this office. She was reappointed for a second term, ending in 2025. A ''

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' was published in 2022 in her honour on the occasion of her 65th birthday, edited by Francis M. Macatangay and Francisco-Javier Ruiz-Ortiz.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calduch, Nuria 1957 births Living people People from Barcelona 20th-century Spanish nuns Women officials of the Roman Curia Autonomous University of Barcelona alumni Pontifical Biblical Institute alumni Old Testament scholars Academics from Catalonia Academic staff of the Pontifical Gregorian University 21st-century Spanish nuns Roman Catholic biblical scholars