Michael Louis Fitzgerald MAfr OBE (born 17 August 1937) is a British cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and an expert on Christian–Muslim relations.
Michael L. Fitzgerald was born in Walsall, United Kingdom, on 17 August 1937, into a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent, and attended Queen Mary's Grammar School.
He made his novitiate in the Netherlands from 1956 to 1957 and pursued his theological studies from 1957 to 1961 in Tunisia, where he began learning Arabic and acquiring some knowledge of Islam.
Cardinal William Godfrey, Archbishop of Westminster, ordained him a priest of the Society of Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) on 3 February 1961.
This was the time of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) which provided the opportunity of attending lectures by theologians such as Karl Rahner and Yves Congar.
[4] On 1 October 2002, Pope John Paul named him to succeed Cardinal Francis Arinze as President of the PCID and gave him the rank of archbishop as well.
[7] On 15 February 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Egypt and Delegate to the League of Arab States, his first diplomatic posting.
[11][12][13] He resigned from his diplomatic positions in October 2012[14] In retirement, he remained at the Missionaries of Africa in Jerusalem until early 2019, when he returned to England to work in a Liverpool parish.
[16] According to Fitzgerald, the impetus for interreligious dialogue in the Catholic Church stems from the Second Vatican Council, in particular the declaration Nostra aetate ('In our Time') on relations with other religions, especially Judaism but also Islam.
[19] In practising dialogue, one should show a spirit of openness and be prepared to learn from the other, but there should be no fear on the part of Christians to express their own convictions, and any semblance of syncretism and relativism ought to be avoided.
[21] Fitzgerald was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to interfaith and interchurch partnerships.