Ethiopian Catholic Church


Ethiopian Catholic Church
ClassificationOriental Catholic
OrientationOriental Christianity
TheologyCatholic theology
PolityEpiscopal
GovernanceMetropolitanate
PopeFrancis
ArchbishopCardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel[1][2]
RegionEthiopia
LiturgyAlexandrian Rite
HeadquartersAddis Ababa
FounderSaint Mark the Evangelist, by tradition
Congregations207 (2010)
Members70,832 (2017)[3]
Ministers590[4]

The Ethiopian Catholic Church[a] or Ethiopian Eastern Catholic Church is a sui iuris (autonomous) Eastern Catholic church that is based in Ethiopia. As a particular church of the Catholic Church, it is in full communion with the Holy See. Established in 1930, the church is organised under a metropolitan bishop who exercises oversight of a number suffragan dioceses. In its liturgical services, it uses the Alexandrian Rite in the Ge'ez language (a local liturgical language).

It holds to the Christological doctrines defined at the Council of Chalcedon and accepts the universal jurisdiction of the pope. These points distinguish it from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, an Oriental Orthodox Church which comprises most Christians in the country.

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  3. ^ "The Eastern Catholic Churches 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-24. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference cs10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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