Catholic Church

Relationship with the Catholic Churches

Pro Oriente, the Catholic organization was the inspiration behind the initiation of unofficial dialogues with the Catholic Church. The dialogues began in 1971 helped to correct many misunderstanding in both sides. Many meetings between the Catholicoi of Malankara Orthodox Church and Popes of Catholic Church took place. The visits of His Holiness Baselios Augen I to Pope Paul VI in Bombay (1964), His Holiness Baselios Marthoma Mathews I to Pope John Paul II in Rome (1983) and later the visit of Pope John Paul II to His Holiness Baselios Marthoma Mathews I at Kottayam (1986) are highlights of this relationship. These mutual visits facilitated dialogues between the Malankara Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in Kerala from 1989. These talks are still continuing every year. These dialogues with the Catholics helped a lot to explore and discover the common St. Thomas heritage of both the Churches and find out platforms where both can cooperate.