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TheCatholic Church inEthiopia is part of the worldwideCatholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome.
TheEastern RiteEthiopian Catholic Church, the primary Catholic rite in the country, bases its liturgy and teaching on that of theEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, modified to be in accordance with theCatholic dogma. While separated by their understanding of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and theirChristology, the Ethiopian Catholic and Orthodox Churches have basically the same sacraments and liturgy. As of 2017, there were 70,832 members of the Ethiopian Catholic Church.[1] There are also a small number of Latin-Rite Catholics in the country, primarilyItalian Ethiopians.
Saint Frumentius (Abune Salama Kesatie Berhan), the firstBishop of Ethiopia, was consecrated bySaint Athanasius,Patriarch of Alexandria around 341. Following theCouncil of Chalcedon in 451, theCoptic Church of Alexandria was no longer in communion with theRoman Catholic andEastern Orthodox churches.
Between the 13th and 18th centuries, the Roman Catholic Church sent various missions to Ethiopia. Most of these were directed less at the conversion of non-Christians, but at securing the adhesion to the Holy See of the existing Church. They eventually failed due to the attachment of most Ethiopians to theEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which was strongly linked to national identity and whoseMiaphysite theology was incompatible with that of Rome
ThePortuguese voyages of discovery at the end of the fifteenth century opened the way for direct contacts between the Church in Rome and the Church in Ethiopia. In the mid-16th century, Ethiopian rulers allowed Jesuits to proselytize in the country. However, the conversion of rulersZa Dengel andSusenyos to Catholicism in the early 17th century led to uprisings.[2] Due to the behaviour of the PortugueseJesuitAfonso Mendes, whomPope Urban VIII appointed asPatriarch of Ethiopia in 1622, EmperorFasilides expelled the Patriarch and the European missionaries under penalty of death,[2] who includedJerónimo Lobo, from the country in 1636; these contacts, which had seemed destined for success under the previous Emperor led, instead, to the complete closure of Ethiopia to further contact with Rome.
From 1839 Msgr.Justin de Jacobis, and subsequently CardinalGuglielmo Massaia, resumed Catholic missionary activities. The Catholic communities currently found in Ethiopia are mostly the fruit of the vigorous work of the above-mentioned missionaries, de Jacobis, and Cardinal Massaja.
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