Eritrean Catholic Church

Eritrean Catholic Church
Cathedral òf the Archeparchy of Asmara
Classification	Catholic
Orientation	Eastern Catholic, Ge'ez Rite
Polity	Episcopal
Governance	Metropolitanate
Leader	Metropolitan Menghesteab Tesfamariam, Archbishop of Asmara
Region	Eritrea
Headquarters	Asmara
Origin	19 January 2015
Members	155,480 (2015)

The Eritrean Catholic Church is a Metropolitan sui iuris Eastern particular church headquartered in Asmara, Eritrea. Established in 2015, it is in full communion with the Catholic Church. Its liturgical rite is the Alexandrian Rite.

Like the other Eastern Catholic Churches, the Eritrean Catholic Church is in full communion with the Holy See. It holds to the Christological definition taught at the Council of Chalcedon and accepts the universal jurisdiction of the Pope. These points distinguish it from the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which is an Oriental Orthodox church comprising most Christians in the country. Like the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Eritrean Catholic Church follows the Ethiopic liturgical rite in the Ge'ez language, a Semitic language which fell out of common use several centuries ago. This rite is based on the Coptic liturgy.

In 1839 Giustino de Jacobis, an Italian Vincentian priest, arrived as a missionary in the area that is now Eritrea and northern Ethiopia. He preferred to employ the local liturgical rite in the Ge'ez language rather than the Roman rite in Latin. He attracted a considerable number of local priests and laity to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. He died in 1860 at Halai, near Hebo, in what is now the Southern Administrative Region of Eritrea.