 Ethiopian Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Particular church (sui luris) |
| Classification | Christian |
| Orientation | Eastern Catholic |
| Theology | Catholic theology |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Governance | Metropolitanate |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Archbishop | CardinalBerhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel[1][2] |
| Region | Ethiopia |
| Liturgy | Alexandrian Rite |
| Headquarters | Addis Ababa |
| Founder | SaintMark the Evangelist, by tradition |
| Congregations | 207 (2010) |
| Members | 70,832 (2017)[3] |
| Ministers | 590[4] |
TheEthiopian Catholic Church is asui iuris (autonomous)Eastern Catholic church that is based inEthiopia. As aparticular church of theCatholic Church, it is infull communion with theHoly See. Established in 1930, the church is organised under ametropolitan bishop who exercises oversight of a numbersuffragan dioceses. In its liturgical services, it uses theAlexandrian Rite in theGeʽez language (a localliturgical language).[5]
It holds to the Christological doctrines defined at theCouncil of Chalcedon and accepts the universal jurisdiction of thepope. These points distinguish it from theEthiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, anOriental Orthodox church which comprises mostChristians in the country.
ThePortuguesevoyages of discovery opened the way for direct contacts between theCatholic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In the 15th century, Catholic missionaries arrived inEthiopia. On 28 August 1439,Pope Eugene IV sent a message of unity with the Catholic Church toEthiopian EmperorQostantinos I,[6] but this effort was unsuccessful.[7]
With Islamic attacks up to 1531 threatening Christian Ethiopia, an appeal from the Emperor to the Portuguese brought support to defeat theAdal Sultanate in theEthiopian–Adal War.Jesuit missionaries came with the Portuguese to Ethiopia. These missionaries focused their conversion activities on the country's governing class, including the emperor, to have the Ethiopian Orthodox Church unite with the Catholic Church. The EmperorSusenyos was converted primarily by FatherPedro Páez. In 1622, Susenyos made Catholicism the state religion. The next year,Pope Gregory XV namedAfonso Mendes, a Portuguese Jesuit, patriarch of the Ethiopian Church. A formal union in 1626 was declared when Patriarch Mendes came to the country. With Mendes trying toLatinize the Ethiopian church, Susenyos used force to impose the Latinization. Public backlash resulted. In 1632, Susenyos died. His successorFasilides in 1636 removed Mendes from the country, ended the union withRome and removed or killed the remaining missionaries. For the next 200 years, Ethiopia was closed to Catholic missions.[7]
In 1839, ItalianLazarist andCapuchins missionaries arrived, albeit within certain limitations imposed on them due to strong public opposition. That same year,Justin de Jacobis was appointed firstPrefect Apostolic ofAbyssinia and entrusted with the foundation of Catholic missions in that country. After laboring with great success in Abyssinia for eight years, he was appointedtitular Bishop ofNilopolis in 1847, and shortly afterwardsVicar Apostolic of Abyssinia, but he refused theepiscopal dignity until it was finally forced upon him in 1849.[8]
In 1919, the Pontifical Ethiopian College was founded within the Vatican walls byPope Benedict XV with St. Stephen's Church, behindSt. Peter's Basilica, as the designated church for the College.[1]
TheLatin Church had become established in the south of Ethiopia in areas that had not beenChristian and that were incorporated into the modern country only at the end of the 19th century. TheItalian occupation of Ethiopia in 1936 gave rise to an increase in the number of Latin-Church jurisdictions, but the expulsion of foreign missionaries at the end of theSecond World War meant that the Ethiopic Rite clergy had to take responsibility for areas thus denuded of Catholic clergy. Accordingly, in 1951, the Ethiopic Rite ApostolicExarchate ofAddis Ababa was established, and the ordinariate for Eritrea was elevated to the rank of exarchate. Ten years later, on 20 February 1961, an Ethiopic ecclesiastical province was established, with Addis Ababa as themetropolitan see[2] andAsmara (in Eritrea) andAdigrat (in Ethiopia) as suffragan eparchies.[7]
In 1995, two new eparchies,Barentu andKeren, were established in Eritrea,[4] and the Latin-Church apostolic vicariate was abolished. Eritrea thus became the only country where all Catholics, whatever Church of their canonical ascription, belong to anEastern Catholic jurisdiction.[1] In 2003, one more eparchy was created inEndibir in theSouthern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia.[2]
In January 2015Pope Francis established theEritrean Catholic Church as asui iurisEastern Catholic Church, thus granting it autonomy from the Ethiopian Catholic Church.[9]
There are also Latin Church jurisdictions in the south of Ethiopia, none of them raised to the rank ofdiocese. Eight areapostolic vicariates and one is anapostolic prefecture.
There are foureparchies (bishoprics) in the country:[10]
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Doctrinal distinctions between the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Catholic Ethiopian churches include recognition of the fifth-centuryCouncil of Chalcedon. The order of the diaconate is reserved for adult men in the Catholic Church, but boys are commonly ordained as deacons in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
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