Pope receives Syro-Malabar bishops on ‘ad limina’ visit

(March 28, 2011) The bishops of India’s eastern-rite Syro-Malabar Catholic Church on Monday began their official visit to Rome, with the first 7 meeting the Pope in the morning. All heads of dioceses are required to make what is called an ‘ad limina’ visit to Rome every 5 years or so to report on the state of their jurisdictions. This is the second group of Indian bishops on their ‘ad limina’ visit this year, after that of the Syro-Malankara bishops last week. Archbishops and bishops from Changanacherry, Kottayam, Tellicherry and Trichur were received by Pope Benedict XVI on Monday. India’s Catholic Church is a communion of three ritual Churches: the Latin, which is the largest, and the two eastern rites – the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara – which are mostly based in southern India’s Kerala state. Bishops from all the three rites make up the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of the Catholic Church in India. Apart from this, individual rites as well as states also have their bishop’s conferences.