Roman Catholicism in Eritrea

Roman Catholic St. Joseph's Cathedral in Asmara

The Roman Catholic Church in Eritrea is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church. Located in the African country of Eritrea, this church is under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome.

Characteristics

There are approximately 150,000 Catholics in Eritrea, who follow both the Latin rite and the Ge’ez rite. There are four territorial jurisdictions in the country known as eparchies.

There are no dioceses of Latin rite in Eritrea, but 4 Ge’ez eparchies (originally only Asmara) and the main Cathedral is St. Joseph in Asmara, the capital. After Eritrea achieved independence in May 1993, Pope John Paul II created two additional Eritrean eparchies, Keren and Barentu. Pope Benedict XVI created a fourth eparchy (in Segeneiti on Friday, February 24, 2012, from territory taken from the Eparchy of Asmara.

So, the Eritrean Catholic Church with the Ge’ez rite, has the dioceses (called eparchies in the Eastern Catholic Churches) of Asmara, Keren, Barentu and Segeneiti:

• The most important (and the original since 1930) is the one of Asmara. Cathedral: St. Joseph.
• The eparchy of Keren is the most important as percentage of total Eritrean population (nearly 12%). Cathedral: St. Michael.
• The eparchy of Barentu has been created in 1995 and covers the northwest of the country.
• The eparchy of Segeneiti has been created in 2012 and covers the south of the country. Cathedral: St. Michael.

Both Catholic denominations (the Ge’ez and the Latin) account for an estimated 5 percent of the Eritrean population. The Eritrean Catholic Church is "tolerated" by the actual dictatorship ruling Eritrea.

Latin rite

The 3 eparchies of Eritrea before 2012. In red the former Asmara eparchy, now divided beetween the Asmara and Segeneiti eparchies

The nation has also many Roman Catholics of the Latin rite, most of whom are Italian Eritreans. When Eritrea was an Italian colony, all the Italians (colonists and military troops) professed the Latin rite: in 1940 they were 11% of the total population.

The Cathedral of Asmara was their main religious center. So, in the early 1940s Catholicism was the religion of nearly 28% of people in the colony of Italian Eritrea.

Actually (2010) there are only 900 Italian Eritreans, mostly old aged and all followers of the Latin rite.

See also

• Ethiopic Catholic Church
• Italian Eritreans
• St Joseph's Cathedral, Asmara
• Christianity in Eritrea
• Religion in Eritrea

External links

• Eparchy of Keren
• Asmara Cathedral
• Recent Eritrean Bishops' events
• Eastern Catholic Churchs: Statistics 2008