Vatican City, 04 July, 2020 / 3:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis appointed an apostolic visitor Thursday for Ethiopian Catholics in the United States and Canada.
The pope named Fr. Tesfaye Woldemariam Fesuh, a priest of the Archdiocese of Addis Ababa, July 2 as apostolic visitor of Ge’ez Rite Catholics in the two countries.
The move follows the pope’s decision in January to appoint an apostolic visitor for Ethiopian Catholics in Europe.
In the Latin Rite Church, an apostolic visitor refers to officials who perform a short-term mission on behalf of the pope. But in the Eastern Catholic Churches, an apostolic visitor often has a long-term role supervising communities which do not yet have their own ordinary.
The Ethiopian Catholic Church is one of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See. It has an estimated 71,000 members and is based in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, but also has diaspora communities in Europe, North America, and Australia.
