The Vatican has announced that Abune Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie will become the new Metropolitan Archbishop of Addis Ababa, making him the head of the Ethiopian Catholic Church.

He succeeds Cardinal Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, who has led the Archdiocese of Addis Ababa since 1999. Cardinal Souraphiel is stepping down ahead of his 78th birthday next July.

The new metropolitan archbishop, 56, is originally from Harar. He joined the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus in 1986 and was ordained a priest in 1995.

He studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and earned a licentiate in Islamic Studies from the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome. He also pursued further studies at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome, according to information published by Vatican News.

Bishop Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie has served as a parish priest and as director of the Comboni school in Haro Wato, Ethiopia. He has also held several responsibilities within his religious institute, culminating in his role as Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries from 2015 to 2024.

The departing Cardinal Berhaneyesus leaves behind a profound legacy, having led the Ethiopian Catholic Church since his appointment as Archbishop of Addis Ababa in 1999. Born in 1948 near Harar, his life and ministry spanned critical eras of Ethiopian history, including a seven-month imprisonment in Jimma during the crackdowns of the Mengistu Haile Mariam military junta in the late 1970s, according to the Vatican.

Elevated to the rank of cardinal by Pope Francis in 2015, the outgoing prelate’s influence extended far beyond national borders. He served as president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea and was elected chairman of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) in 2014, representing regional Catholic leadership on global platforms such as the Synods on the Family.