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Metropolitan Church sui iuris Asmara, Eritrea

Diocese of Asmara

Asmaren(sis)

Alexandrian tradition

Asmara is the metropolitan archeparchy of the Eritrean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui iuris church using the Ge'ez (Alexandrian) Rite, not the Coptic Rite. It traces to a 1930 ordinariate and was raised to a metropolitan archeparchy in 2015, with suffragan eparchies of Barentu, Keren, and Segheneyti.

On the map

Esri
Asmara, Eritrea, drawn to the town rather than to the door: the register holds no verified address for its cathedral.

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Established
1930
Catholics
67,314
Priests
346
Territory
53,183 km²

Parishes and churches

28 listed churches in our records. Open a parish for Mass times, confession, directions and sources where recorded.

This is our recorded coverage, not an official diocesan parish count. Confirm service times with the parish before travelling.

The bishop

Archeparch
Menghesteab Tesfamariam, M.C.C.I.

Explore the ministry of the bishop.

The cathedral

Kidane Mehret Cathedral, Asmara stands in Asmara, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

History

The Eritrean Catholic Church, a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church whose boundaries match those of the State of Eritrea in the Horn of Africa, has its metropolitan see at Asmara. Known formally as the Archeparchy of Asmara (Latin: Archieparchia Asmarensis or Metropolitana Ecclesia Asmarensis), and informally as Asmara of the Eritreans, the see depends on the Roman Congregation for the Oriental Churches.