Addis Ababa, 06 November, 2024 / 8:49 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis has appointed the Superior General of the Religious Institute of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) Auxiliary Bishop of Ethiopia’s Catholic Archdiocese of Addis Ababa that is under the pastoral care of Berhaneyesus Demerew Cardinal Souraphiel.
The Episcopal appointment of Mons. Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie that the Holy See Press Office published on Wednesday, November 6 was followed by a letter from MCCJ leadership to members, communicating the functioning of the General Council “in this time of transition”, to culminate in the election of a new Superior General.
When Consecrated Bishop, Mons. Gebresilasie, who has been assigned the Titular See of Cleopatris will assist the 76-year-old Cardinal. Elevated to Cardinal in February 2015, the Ethiopian member of the Congregation of the Mission (CM) has been at the helm of Addis Ababa Archdiocese since November 1997, when he was appointed Apostolic Administrator.
In a letter after the Episcopal appointment of Mons. Gebresilasie was made public, Rome-based MCCJ General Council member say that they have received the news with mixed “feelings and emotions, among which the gratitude to God prevails for the gift that has been given to us so far in the person of Fr. Tesfaye as our Superior General, as well as a confrere.”
“We recognize that the choice of his person also represents a gift for the service to the particular church for whose growth we as an Institute collaborate,” MCCJ General Council members say in the November 6 letter seen by ACI Africa.