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unusual facts about Roman Catholicism in Ethiopia


Roman Catholicism in Ethiopia

Due largely to the behaviour of the Portuguese Jesuit Afonso Mendes, whom Pope Urban VIII appointed as Patriarch of Ethiopia in 1622, Emperor Fasilides expelled the Patriarch and the European missionaries, who included Jerónimo Lobo, from the country in 1636; these contacts, which had seemed destined for success under the previous Emperor, led instead to the complete closure of Ethiopia to further contact with Rome.


Meki

The Apostolic Vicariate of Meki of the Catholic Church has its headquarters in Meki, which also runs a local high school in the town, Meki Catholic School (MCS).

Monolithic church

This practice was very common in Tigray, where the outside world knew of only a few such churches until the Catholic priest Abba Tewelde Medhin Josief presented a paper to the Third International Conference of Ethiopian Studies in which he announced the existence of over 120 churches, 90 of which were still in use.


see also