Diocese of Nekemte
Nekemteën(sis)
Apostolic vicariate · Latin Church · Nekemte, Ethiopia
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.
The see
- Rank
- Apostolic vicariate
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 3 September 1982
- Latin
- Nekemteën(sis)
- Patron
- Our Lady (Kidane Mehret)
- Annuario code
- 001000430
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 46,900
- Population
- 6,000,000
- Catholic share
- 0.8%
- Priests
- 37
- Catholics per priest
- 1,268
- Extent
- 98,792 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 0.5
of the people living within its bounds
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
- Bishop
- Getahun Fanta Shikune
- Born
- 25 February 1973
- Birthplace
- Aleku Sassi
- Institute
- CONGREGAZIONE DELLA MISSIONE (LAZZARISTI)
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
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.
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].