Diocese of Gambella
Gambellen(sis)
Apostolic vicariate · Latin Church · Gambella, Ethiopia
Latin Church apostolic vicariate in Gambella, Ethiopia, erected as an apostolic prefecture in 2000 and promoted to a vicariate in 2009. The vicar apostolic is Bishop Roberto Bergamaschi, with Hailemariam Medhin Tesfay appointed coadjutor in 2026.
The see
- Rank
- Apostolic vicariate
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 5 December 2009
- Latin
- Gambellen(sis)
- Patron
- Saint Joseph
- Annuario code
- 001000407
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 38,000
- Priests
- 17
- Catholics per priest
- 2,235
- Extent
- 50,000 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 0.8
Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.
The bishop
- Eparch
- Roberto Bergamaschi
- Born
- 17 December 1954
- Birthplace
- San Donato Milanese
- Institute
- SOCIETÀ SALESIANA DI S. GIOVANNI BOSCO (SALESIANI)
A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.
The cathedral
St. Joseph Cathedral stands in Gambella, 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
In the western part of Ethiopia, the Apostolic Vicariate of Gambella (Latin: Vicariatus Apostolicus Gambellensis), formerly the Apostolic Prefecture of Gambella, is a Catholic missionary pre-diocesan jurisdiction known as an apostolic vicariate. It is exempt, that is, immediately dependent upon the Holy See (notably the Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples), belonging to no ecclesiastical province such as the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Addis Abbeba. Its cathedral episcopal see is the St. Joseph Cathedral in Gambela, and its territory takes in all the Gambella Region together with a large part of Illubabor Zone in Oromia Region.
What is kept by invitation
The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.
The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.
Sources
The see's own website · Wikipedia
This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].