Ethiopian Catholic Archeparchy of Addis Abeba

The area now covered by the Archeparchy was part of the huge Latin Catholic Apostolic Prefecture of Abyssinia, when this prefecture was established in 1839 and was at first based at Massawa and then (from 1860) at Keren in Eritrea, before transferring to what is now the north of Ethiopia in 1894.[9] Before 1839, the area of the present Archeparchy and the rest of the territory of the Apostolic Prefecture of Abyssinia belonged to the still vaster Apostolic Vicariate of Syria, Egypt, Arabia and Cyprus.

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]

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.

The Apostolic Vicariate of the Galla lost territory on 28 January 1913 with the creation of the Apostolic Prefecture of Southern Keffa. In 1937, its boundaries were changed and it was renamed Apostolic Vicariate of Harar (see below).

A year after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia, the Apostolic Vicariate of Abyssinia was suppressed on 25 March 1937.[11] From its territory three new apostolic prefectures were formed (Gondar, Tigray and Dessie), while Danakil was annexed to the (Latin-Church) Apostolic Vicariate of Eritrea.[11]

The territory of the Apostolic Vicariate of the Galla was altered on 25 March 1937 to coincide with that of Harrar Governorate and its name was changed to Apostolic Vicariate of Harar.[13]

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.

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]

In 1950, Hailemariam Kahsay (Italian form: Hailé Mariam Cahsai), a native of the then Apostolic Prefecture of Tigray, which within a decade was to be replaced by the Ethiopian Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat, was made Apostolic Administrator of the Ethiopic-Rite faithful resident in all of Ethiopia,[17] and on 24 February 1951 he was appointed Titular Bishop of Sozusa in Libya.[18]

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]