Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Catholic Church leaders in the Philippines signed documents with the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), or Philippine Independent Church, “for more ecumenical cooperation amidst diversity.”
In a joint statement signed on August 3, leaders of both churches said that together they “ask and pray for mutual forgiveness for any injuries inflicted in the past.”
“We shall strive for the healing and purification of memories among our members,” read the statement released on the occasion of the 500th anniversary celebration of the arrival of Christianity in the country.
The IFI formally broke away from Rome and declared itself a nationalist Church in 1902 “in the midst of a turbulent period of the Filipinos’ struggle for independence against the colonial rule of Spain and the United States,” the statement said.