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Apostolic vicariate Nekemte, Ethiopia

Diocese of Nekemte

Nekemteën(sis)

Latin Church

Nekemte is a Latin Rite Apostolic Vicariate in western Ethiopia (Oromia region), tracing its origins to a 1913 apostolic prefecture and renamed Nekemte in 1982. As a vicariate it is immediately subject to the Holy See, and Bishop Getahun Fanta Shikune of the Congregation of the Mission was appointed vicar apostolic in 2024.

On the map

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

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Established
1913
Catholics
46,900
Priests
37
Territory
98,792 km²

Parishes and churches

22 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

Bishop
Getahun Fanta Shikune
Born
25 February 1973
Birthplace
Aleku Sassi
Institute
CONGREGAZIONE DELLA MISSIONE (LAZZARISTI)

Explore the ministry of the bishop.

The cathedral

Cathedral of Kidane Meheret stands in Nekemte, 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

At Nekemte in Ethiopia, a region where Orthodoxy and Islam are dominant, the Catholic Church maintains the Apostolic Vicariate of Nekemte (Latin: Vicariatus Apostolicus Nekemteensis), a pre-diocesan jurisdiction. Belonging to no ecclesiastical province, the see answers directly to the Holy See through its Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and its seat is the Cathedral of Kidane Meheret in Nekemte. Its territory takes in, from the Oromia region, the East Welega, West Welega, Kelem Welega, Horo Guduru wollega, and West Showa zones, and from the Benishangul Gumuz Region, the Assosa and Kamashi zones.