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Diocese of Nekemte

Nekemteën(sis)

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 shareof the people living within its bounds
0.8%
Priests
37
Catholics per priest
1,268
Extent
98,792 km²
Catholics per km²
0.5

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.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

Compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. Corrections: hello@catholicintelligence.com.