Idukki Bishop expresses regret for remark over interfaith marriages

Thiruvananthapuram: Two days after certain Hindu outfits came out against his remark on interfaith marriages, Idukki Bishop Mar Mathew Anikuzhikattil today expressed regret for his comment and said it was not intended to hurt anybody.

The Bishop, in a statement, said his speech at the pastoral convention was not made with any ulterior or communal motives.

"I regret that the remark has become controversial. In this circumstance, if it has hurt the communal harmony, I sincerely regret it," he said from Bishops' house.

The statement said the remark of the Bishop, who always stood for communal harmony, was meant as an advice of a father to his children and he expresses his regret for the same.

The Bishop had courted controversy by saying that inter-religious marriages in the Christian community were against Christian values and beliefs and should not be encouraged.

Slamming the statement, SNDP, an organisation representing the Hindu community, had said a case should be registered against him for trying to harm the communal harmony in the state.