On Sunday, the Holy See announced that Pope Francis, bishop of Rome, had created a new Eastern Catholic metropolitan church in the northeast African nation of Eritrea. The new Eritrean Catholic Church, carved from the four Eritrean eparchies (or dioceses) of the Ge’ez Catholic Church based in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa, will be sui iuris (meaning “of its own right”) and will be subject directly to the Holy See.
According to the Vatican Information Service announcement, “the seat of the new metropolitan church is Asmara, [the capital of Eritrea,] which is elevated to the status of metropolitan archeparchy.” This new metropolitan church, which will continue to utilize the Ge’ez rites and traditions it shares with its sister church in neighboring Ethiopia, includes the eparchies of Barentu, Keren and Seghenity, in addition to the Archeparchy of Asmara. The pope appointed Bishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam, M.C.C.J., formerly eparchial bishop of Asmara, as the first metropolitan archbishop of Eritrea.
The Holy See also announced that the re-formed Ethiopian Catholic Church, led by Cardinal-designate Metropolitan Berhaneyesus D. Souraphiel, C.M., will include a new jurisdiction, erecting the Eparchy of Bahir Dar-Dessie, and asking Bishop Lisane-Christos Matheos Semahun, the former auxiliary of Addis Ababa, to shepherd its 18,000 Catholics.
Click here to learn more about the Eritrean and Ethiopian Catholic churches, and their ancient Ge’ez rites and traditions. To learn more about the Eastern churches, visit this new feature we have created that gathers together the profiles written on all the Eastern churches featured in ONE magazine between 2005 and 2012.