On January 24, 2003, the Vatican announced that its Ratisbonne Papal Institute in Jerusalem would be closing, due to financial and academic challenges. Decreased enrollment, linked to escalating violence in the region, had forced the academic programs at the Ratisbonne to be postponed since June 2001 for assessment and reorganization. For the past 30 years, the Institute was the principal site for Jewish Studies in the Vatican university system and had offered courses taught in French and English on classic Jewish texts, liturgies and practices, as well as in-depth instruction in Hebrew and an orientation to the living reality of Judaism in the context of Israel. Its academic resources will be transferred to the Cardinal Bea Center for Judaic Studies at the Gregorian University in Rome.

Vatican officials plan to strengthen the Judaic Studies program at the Gregorian University to offset the closure of the Ratisbonne. On March 10, 2003, the Gregorian announced that Fr. Joseph Sievers, who taught at the Ratisbonne Institute since 1991, will be the new director of the Cardinal Bea Center. Fr. Sievers is currently a member of the advisory committee of SIDIC (Service International de Documentation Judeo-Chretienne), a Rome-based organization promoting scholarly literature on Jewish-Christian relations. His responsibilities as director of the Cardinal Bea Center will include the expansion of course offerings, and the further development of links with Jewish and Christian institutions worldwide.

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