Eritrean Catholic Archeparchy of Asmara

Archeparchy of Asmara

Archieparchia Asmarensis
Kidane Mehret Cathedral
Cathedral of the archeparchy
Location
Country Eritrea
Ecclesiastical provinceCentral
Statistics
Area53,183 km2 (20,534 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics
(as of 2012)
3,934,000
67,314 (1.7%)
Parishes58
Information
DenominationEritrean Catholic Church
RiteAlexandrian Rite
Established4 July 1930 (94 years ago)
CathedralKidane Mehret Cathedral
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
ArcheparchMenghesteab Tesfamariam, M.C.C.I.
Map

The Eritrean Catholic Archeparchy of Asmara, officially the Archeparchy of Asmara (Latin: Archieparchia Asmarensis or Latin: Metropolitana Ecclesia Asmarensis[1]), more informally Asmara of the Eritreans,[2] is the metropolitan see of the Eritrean Catholic Church, a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church whose territory corresponds to that of the State of Eritrea in the Horn of Africa.[1] It depends on the Roman Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

As head of an autonomous particular church, the Metropolitan Archeparch, currently Menghesteab Tesfamariam, is mentioned by name, after the Pope, in the liturgies celebrated within the suffragan eparchies of Barentu, Keren and Segheneyti.[3]

The Eritrean Catholic Church, like the Ethiopian Catholic Church, from which it was separated in 2015, uses in its liturgy the Ethiopic variant of the Alexandrian Rite in the Ge'ez language. It is the Eastern Catholic counterpart of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which was granted autocephaly in 1993, and is headed by an Orthodox Patriarch, who also is based in the Eritrean capital. Since the Eritrean Catholic Church is a metropolitanate, not a patriarchal or major archiepiscopal Church, the power of its metropolitan and council of hierarchs is limited to its own territory, which covers all and only Eritrea, (East Africa or, more precisely, the Horn of Africa). Faithful outside of Eritrea are immediately subject to the Pope.[4][5][improper synthesis?]

The cathedral of the sui iuris metropolitan see is Kidane Mehret Cathedral in Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea.

  1. ^ a b [1]Apostolic Constitution (papal bull) Multum fructum of 19 January 2015
  2. ^ "Metropolitanate of Asmara, Eritrea (Eritrean Rite)". GCatholic. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  3. ^ Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 161
  4. ^ Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 157 §2
  5. ^ "John D. Faris, The Eastern Catholic Churches: Constitution and Governance (Saint Maron Publications, New York 1992), p. 380" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-20. Retrieved 2017-07-09.