ETHIOPIA: Superior General of Comboni Missionaries Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Addis Ababa
Bishop-elect Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
On Wednesday, November 6, the Holy Father Pope Francis appointed Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie who has been the Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ), the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archeparchy of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Monsignor Tesfaye who served as provincial superior of the Comboni Missionaries in Ethiopia, from 2005 until 2009 during which he doubled as president of the Association of Major Superiors in the same country, was later in the year 2015 elected the first African Superior General and re-elected for the same position during the 19th General Chapter of the Institute in 2022.
As the Auxiliary Bishop of Addis Ababa, Pope Francis has assigned the Bishop-elect the titular See of Cleopatris, Alexandria, Egypt, and will work with Berhaneyesus Demerew Cardinal Souraphiel a member of the Congregation of the Mission (CM) and the Local Ordinary of the same Metropolitan See.
During the just concluded Synod on Synodality assembly that took place in Rome from 2-27 October, the Ethiopian-born Msgr. Tesfaye was the delegate from the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) region who represented the Religious Orders.
Msgr. Tesfaye was born in Harar on 22 September 1969, joined the Comboni Missionaries in 1986, and was ordained a priest on 26 August 1995 in Addis Ababa.
He was awarded a licentiate in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Rome and a Bachelor of Arts on Sacred Theology in Pontifical Gregorian University also in Rome, and a diploma in Islamic studies from the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Rome. He continued his Islamic studies at Dar Comboni for Arabic Studies in Cairo and attended a formation course at the Salesian Pontifical University of Rome.
Bishop-elect has served in various positions including deputy parish priest and director of the Comboni School in Haro Wato (2001), provincial counsellor of the Combini Missionaries in Ethiopia (2002-2004), provincial of the Comboni Missionaries in Ethiopia and president of the Conference of Religious Major Superiors of Ethiopia (2005), and superior general of the Comboni Missionaries (2015 and 2022).
