Unlike some other countries, where jurisdictions of the Latin Church and of one or more Eastern Catholic Churches overlap, all ecclesiastical jurisdictions in Ethiopia are geographically distinct and each territory has a single hierarch or ordinary. All the hierarchs and ordinaries are members of the interritual Episcopal Conference, which until the foundation of the Eritrean Catholic Church in 2015 also counted the Eritrean hierarchy as members and, from the 1993 declaration of the independence of Eritrea until 2015, was called the Episcopal Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea.[4] The episcopal conference is now again named without mention of Eritrea.[5][6]
As per 2014, the Metropolitan Archeparchy of Addis Abeba pastorally served 27,713 Catholics (0.1% of Ethiopia's population of 30,302,000 total) on 253,000 km² in 23 parishes and 7 missions with 187 priests (26 diocesan, 161 religious), 494 lay religious (176 brothers, 318 sisters) and 64 seminarians.
The Archeparchy of Addis Abeba is the episcopal see of the single metropolitan of the Ethiopian Catholic Church and has the following suffragan sees, which do not cover the whole of Ethiopia:
On 4 May 1846, the Apostolic Prefecture of Abyssinia lost much territory to the south on the establishment of the Apostolic Vicariate of the Galla (see below). Next year, it was raised to the rank of Apostolic Vicariate and therefore given a titular bishop as its head. On 19 September 1894, it lost territory to the north to the new Apostolic Prefecture of Eritrea. The 1847 loss to the Apostolic Vicariate of the Galla involved a vast territory but no established missions; the smaller territory lost in 1894 to the Apostolic Prefecture of Eritrea contained 25 of its 28 parishes.[10] On 25 March 1937, in a general reorganization of Catholic jurisdictions in Ethiopia that followed its military conquest by Italy, the Apostolic Vicariate of Abyssinia was suppressed[11] (see below). A 2008 dossier published by the Fides News Agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples spoke of the Eparchy of Adigrat, with 33 parishes and a far smaller territory, as the present-day continuation of the Apostolic Vicariate of Abyssinia.[10]
Apostolic Vicariate of the Galla
On 4 May 1846, the Apostolic Vicariate of the Galla, headed by Guglielmo Massaia, was founded, extending from 4° to 10° North and from 34° to 44° East.[12] The city of Addis Ababa, founded forty years later, in 1886, is situated at 9°N, 39°E. The site of Addis Ababa was thus in the Apostolic Prefecture of Abyssinia for only seven years and remained 91 years in the Apostolic Vicariate of the Galla.
A new Apostolic Vicariate of Addis Abeba was created, with territory corresponding to that of Shewa Governorate.[14] Unlike the other vicariates and prefectures, which were placed in the care of missionary institutes, the Addis Abeba jurisdiction was entrusted to its secular clergy.
Ethiopic-Rite ordinaries in Ethiopia
After the defeat of the Italian forces in the East African Campaign (World War II), clergy of Italian nationality, including the apostolic vicars and prefects, were expelled from Ethiopia. Pastoral care of the Catholics in Ethiopia was attended to by Ethiopian and Eritrean clergy, almost all of whom followed the Ge'ez Rite. Those that came to Addis Ababa were natives of the Apostolic Prefecture of Tigray.[15] Accordingly, at the end of 1942, all the Catholic faithful in Ethiopia were made subject to Kidanè-Maryam Cassà, Titular Bishop of Thibaris, Ordinary for Ethiopic-Rite indigenous Catholics in Eritrea.[16]
On 31 October 1951, a new apostolic exarchate for Ethiopic-Rite Catholics (the Eastern equivalent of a Latin apostolic vicariate), to be called that of Addis Abeba, was established, coextensive with the Ethiopian Empire.[17] (Eritrea, then federated with Ethiopia, was not annexed to the Empire until 1960,) This is presented in the Annuario Pontificio as the first origin of today's Metropolitan Archeparchy of Addis Abeba.[19] Hailemariam Kahsay became its first exarch.
On 20 February 1961, the year after Eritrea became part of the Ethiopian Empire, Pope John XXIII established an ecclesiastical province for Ethiopic-Rite Catholics living in the Empire. The apostolic exarchate of Addis Abeba became its metropolitan see and thus an archeparchy. It was given two suffragan eparchies: that of Asmara (previously, like Addis Abeba, an apostolic exarchate) and the eparchy of Adigrat. The jurisdictional area of Addis Abeba was reduced to the territories that had been assigned in 1937 to the Latin apostolic vicariate of Addis Abeba and the apostolic prefectures of Gondar, Dessie and Endeber.[20] From then on, there have been in Ethiopia (excluding Eritrea) no overlapping of Latin and Ethiopic jurisdictions.
On 9 April 1961, Hailemariam Kahsay was appointed the first Eparch of Adigrat, his native area, and his successor in Addis Abeba was Asrate Mariam Yemmeru, transferred from the see of Asmara.
On 25 November 2003, the Eparchy of Emdeber was established on territory taken from the archeparchy as a second Ethiopian suffragan see. By then the Eparchy of Asmara had been divided into four eparchies, so that the suffragan sees of the Archeparchy of Addis Abeba were six.
On 19 January 2015, the number of suffragan sees was reduced to three through, on the one hand, the setting up of a third Ethiopian eparchy, that of Bahir Dar-Dessie, with territory taken from that of the metropolitan archeparchy, and, on the other hand, the separation of the four Eritrean eparchies to form the distinct Eritrean Catholic Church.[21]
Lorenzo Biancheri (07/31/1860 - death 09/11/1864); Titular Bishop of Lagania (1853.01.28 – 1864.09.11), succeeding as Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic (1853.01.28 – 1860.07.31)
Louis Bel (7/11/1865 – death 03/01/1868), Titular Bishop of Agathopolis (1865.07.11 – 1868.03.01)
Jean-Marcel Touvier (09/27/1869 – death 08/04/1888), Titular Bishop of Olena (1869.11.29 – 1888.08.04)
Jean-Jacques Crouzet (08/01/1886 – 01/16/1896), Titular Bishop of Zephyrium (1888.10.01 – death 1933.01.08); also and longer (last) Apostolic Vicar of Southern Madagascar (Madagascar) (1896.01.16 – 1913.05.20), restyled first Apostolic Vicar of Fort-Dauphin (1913.05.20 – death 1933.01.08)
Apostolic Administrator of Catholic faithful resident in Ethiopia
Kidanè-Maryam Cassà, Titular Bishop of Thibaris and Ordinary for Ethiopic-Rite indigenous Catholics in Eritrea
Apostolic Exarch of Addis Abeba
Hailemariam Kahsay (2/24/1951 – 02/19/1961), Titular Bishop of Sozusa in Libya (1951.02.24 – 1961.02.19); later first Eparch of Adigrat ((1961.04.09 – 1970.11.24)
Metropolitan Archeparchs of Addis Abeba
Asrate Mariam Yemmeru (04/09/1961 – retired 02/24/1977), also President of the Episcopal Conference (1967 – 1976); previously Titular Bishop of Urima (1958.02.03 – 1961.04.09) and Apostolic Exarch of Asmara (Eritrea) (1958.02.03 – 1961.04.09); died 1990
Paulos Tzadua (02/24/1977 – 09/11/1998), created Cardinal-Priest of Santissimo Nome di Maria in Via Latina (1985.05.25 – death 2003.12.11), also President of the Episcopal Conference (1994 – 1998); previously Titular Bishop of Abila in Palæstina (1973.03.01 – 1977.02.24) and Auxiliary Bishop of Addis Abeba (1973.03.01 – 1977.02.24)
Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel (07/07/1999 – ...), President of the Episcopal Conference (1998 – ...), President of Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (2014.07.24 – ...), created Cardinal-Priest of San Romano Martire (2015.02.14 [2015.10.18] – ...); previously Apostolic Prefect of (Latin-Church) Jimma–Bonga (1994 – 1997.11.07), Titular Bishop of Bita and Auxiliary Bishop of Addis Abeba (1997.11.07 – 1999.07.07), Apostolic Administrator of Addis Abeba (1998.06.16 – 1999.07.07)
^See for instance, Annuario Pontificio 2013, p. 1080 and the address of Pope Francis to "the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea" in 2014, as opposed to Annuario Pontificio 1992, p. 1065 and the address of Pope John Paul II to "the members of the Episcopal Conference of Ethiopia" in 1987.
