As the Marmara Group Foundation, with our civil society identity, we have placed great importance on intercultural dialogue. This importance is quite significant in terms of peace and service to humanity. Our work over the years has attracted the attention of the entire world as well as the Vatican. During the past years, the Vatican, which showed interest in our intercultural dialogue efforts, also participated at the Cardinal level in our Love and Peace Iftar event held in Istanbul in October 2006. Consequently, our relations reached their peak following this event attended by Cardinal Celata.

On November 9, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI received the Marmara Group Foundation at the Vatican. The reception of the Marmara Group Foundation, consisting of Dr. Akkan Suver, Prof. Dr. İlter Turan, Leyla Tavşanoğlu, and Cafer Okray, by the Pope at the Vatican was considered a significant event under the conditions of that day. Indeed, during the Vatican visit, the Pope's visit to Turkey was on the agenda. During the visit, Dr. Akkan Suver told the Pope, "The Republic of Turkey and the Turkish nation are waiting for you." After listening to the information given by Suver, the Pope asked a question:

"I want to learn something from you. What is something that the Turkish nation would commonly appreciate?"

Without hesitation, Dr. Akkan Suver said, "If you visit Atatürk at Anıtkabir, the Turkish nation will be very happy." At the end of the meeting, the Pope also sent the following meaningful message to the Turkish nation through Suver: “Send my greetings to Atatürk’s Turkey.” Then the Pope came to Turkey, visited Anıtkabir, and paid respects to Atatürk.

The Pope’s visit to Atatürk was watched by billions of people worldwide through television.

During his visit to Turkey, Pope Benedict XVI received Dr. Akkan Suver and Müjgan Suver in Istanbul. Later, in 2011, Pope Benedict XVI received the Marmara Group Foundation delegation consisting of Dr. Akkan Suver, Dr. Fatih Saraçoğlu, Necdet Timur, and Aykut Eken for the third time. The Pope stated during the reception that he did not see the Marmara Group Foundation merely as a dialogue bridge between Islam, Christianity, and Muslim communities but also appreciated its high cultural efforts in preserving the richness of diminishing values such as Chaldean and Syriac cultures, and that he was following our efforts to keep these cultures alive. Meanwhile, as the Marmara Group Foundation, we would like to emphasize that two important clergymen have a special place in our relations. We would like to mention the late Monsignor George Marovitch and Monsignor Yusuf Sağ with gratitude. The Marmara Group Foundation is grateful to the late Monsignor George Marovitch and Monsignor Yusuf Sağ for their sincere and high efforts in our civil society relations with the Vatican.