Next Director Of The French Biblical And Archaeological School Of Jerusalem

On 15 August 2023, fr. Gerard Timoner, Master of the Order and Grand Chancellor of the École Biblique, has appointed fr. Olivier Poquillon, op, next Director of the École Biblique in Jerusalem. On 1 October, he will succeed fr. Jean Jacques Pérennès, who is coming to the end of his second term.

Br. Olivier Poquillon, from the Province of France and a member of the Annunciation community in Paris, has been overseeing since 2019 the restoration of the Dominican convent of Notre-Dame de l’Heure in Mosul, which was severely damaged by Daech as part of UNESCO’s flagship programme “Reviving the Spirit of Mosul”.

Aged 56, fr. Olivier is a lawyer specialising in international public law and is an auditor at the Institut des hautes études de défense nationale (IHEDN). An expert for the Holy See at the Council of Europe, he served from 2008 to 2013 as Permanent Delegate of the Order of Preachers to the United Nations. After serving as prior of the convent in Strasbourg and chaplain to the École nationale d’administration (ENA), he was appointed Secretary General of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union in 2016. At the same time, he has held a number of pastoral posts, notably with the military Ordinariate, the Scouts and Guides de France, Caritas and the diocese of Strasbourg.

The French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem is delighted to welcome a director who is committed to teamwork, has extensive international experience and is familiar with the Middle East and managing projects in a complex environment.