Vatican, May. 28, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI met on May 28 with Major Archbishop Issac Cleemis Thottunkal of Trivandrum, The Indian prelate was visiting Rome for the first time since becoming the head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.
In paying tribute to the Syro-Malankara Catholic tradition, Pope Benedict said that he was "most grateful" to the Indian archbishop for his "eager wish to 'see Peter.'"
Archbishop Thottunkal was named in February to head the Trivandrum archdiocese, and thus the leader of the world's 500,000 Syro-Malankara faithful. Pope Benedict noted: "The precious heritage of your ecclesial tradition was placed in the hands of your Beatitude through the act of canonical election conducted by the Fathers of the Syro-Malankara Synod." The Pope offered his prayers for the welfare of the Eastern Church, and said that fidelity to the Syro-Malankara tradition "will enable the whole Church to benefit from what, in his manifold wisdom, 'the Spirit is saying to the churches.'"
The Syro-Malankara Church boasts a heritage stretching back to St. Thomas the Apostle, whose missionary activity reached to the subcontinent. The "Thomas Christians" eventually became Nestorians, affiliated with the Assyrian Church. But when Catholic explorers from Portugal colonized India, European missionaries restored ties with the Holy See. During the 17th century, Indian Christians, resentful of the Portuguese influence which they felt was destroying their Assyrian tradition, left the Catholic Church. However, they did not re-establish their relationship with the Assyrian church. Instead, when the Syrian Orthodox patriarch offered to take the Indian Christians under his care, they agreed--at the price of adopting the Syrian liturgy, and leaving behind their Assyrian heritage.
The resulting Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church was itself split early in the 20th century, and one group of bishops sought to be reconciled with Rome. By the middle of the century the trickle had become a flood, and the Syro-Malankara Church was growing rapidly. Today the number of Syro-Malankars is approaching 500,000--nearly all of them living in the Indian state of Kerala.
In 2005, Pope John Paul II raised Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios Malancharuvil of Trivandrum, the head of the Syro-Malankara Church, to the title of Major Archbishop. His death in January 2007 led to the appointment of Archbishop Thottunkal.