Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel | |
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| Cardinal,Archbishop of Addis Abeba | |
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| Church | Ethiopian Catholic Church |
| See | Addis Abeba |
| Appointed | 7 July 1999 |
| Predecessor | Paulos Tzadua |
| Other posts |
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| Previous posts |
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| Orders | |
| Ordination | 4 July 1976 |
| Consecration | 25 January 1998 by Paulos Tzadua |
| Created cardinal | 14 February 2015 byPope Francis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1948-07-14)14 July 1948 (age 77) Tchela Claka |
| Nationality | Ethiopian |
| Coat of arms |  |
Ordination history of Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Styles of Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel | |
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| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Religious style | Cardinal |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel,CM (Amharic:ብርሃነ ኢየሱስ ደምረው ሱራፌል; born 14 July 1948) is a prelate of theEthiopian Catholic Church, which he has headed since his election asArchbishop of Addis Abeba in 1999. He is also the chancellor of theCatholic University of Eastern Africa and the president of theCatholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea. He was made acardinal byPope Francis in 2015.
He was imprisoned by theCommunist government ofEthiopia in 1979–80. A member of theCongregation of the Mission, he directed the order's novitiate in the mid-1980s and was provincial superior from 1990 to 1994. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of Addis Abeba for 18 months before becoming archbishop.
Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel was born on 14 July 1948 in Tchela Claka, nearHarar inEthiopia. He first attended public schools and those run by theEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and then others run by the Capuchins and the De La Salle Brothers. He entered the minor seminary of theCongregation of the Mission (known as "Lazarists" or "Vincentians") in 1963.[1] He studied at the Makanissa Major Seminary beginning in 1968. He studied theology atKing's College London and was ordained aCatholic priest on 4 July 1976.[2]
He fulfilled parish assignments in southwestern Ethiopia until, in June 1979, he was jailed by Ethiopia's military dictatorship for seven months, including one month in solitary confinement.[1][3][4] When the government expelled foreign missionaries, he was left with responsibility for 15 parishes in addition to his original assignment.[3] When sent into exile himself, he earned a degree in sociology at thePontifical Gregorian University.[2] He returned to Ethiopia in 1983.
In 1990 Berhaneyesus Souraphiel becameprovincial superior of the Lazarists inAddis Ababa. In 1994 he was appointed prefect of the newly createdApostolic Vicariate of Jimma-Bonga.[2] On 7 November 1997,Pope John Paul II appointed himauxiliary bishop of Addis Abeba and he was consecrated a bishop on 25 January 1998[2] by CardinalPaulos Tzadua. On 7 July 1999 he succeeded Paulos Tzadua as Ethiopian Catholic Archbishop of Addis Abeba.[5]
In 2005, he established the Ethiopian Catholic University of St. Thomas Aquinas.[6] He has served as its chancellor and toured the United States to raise funds through an organization founded by ArchbishopSilvano Tomasi, a veteran Vatican diplomat.[7]
In December 2008, he was one of a dozen Ethiopian religious figures who adopted a resolution that calledhomosexuality "an infestation", and urged Ethiopian lawmakers to extend the country's criminalization of homosexual activity to theconstitution.[6][8]
He was elected chairman of theAssociation of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) during its 18th Plenary Assembly in Malawi in July 2014.[citation needed]
On 4 January 2015, Pope Francis announced that he would make him acardinal on 14 February.[9] At that ceremony, he was made acardinal priest and was assigned the titular church ofSan Romano Martire.[10]
On 13 April 2015, he was appointed a member of theCongregation for the Oriental Churches and of thePontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants.[11]
In 2015, as part of a long campaign for national reconciliation following the end of themilitary council's authoritarian rule (1974–1987), he advocated for imprisoned Derg officials to have their death sentences commuted, and he met with several of them, including one who had arrested him years earlier, upon their release from prison.[12] He has served as head of the Ethiopian Peace and Reconciliation Commission.[4]
In advance of the Synod on the Amazon, he said he viewed the question of married priests as secondary to more critical issues: "the Amazon is the lung of the world — and it was burning — and what action was being taken? And the indigenous people who are living there, what right have they been given by the nine countries which surround the Amazon? Did they get educational opportunities? Health opportunities? Opportunities to preserve their traditional values?"[4]
He participated as acardinal elector in the2025 papal conclave that electedPope Leo XIV.[13] Cardinal Souraphiel is also the first Ethiopian cardinal ever to participate in a papal conclave.[a]
| Catholic Church titles | ||
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| Preceded by vicariate established | Vicar Apostolic of Jimma-Bonga | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Titular Bishop of Bita 1997–1999 | Succeeded by vacant |
| Preceded by | Archbishop of Addis Abeba 1999 – present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by titular church established | Cardinal Priest ofSan Romano Martire | |
