{"id":23932,"date":"2026-01-30T16:41:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T13:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/?p=23932"},"modified":"2026-01-30T16:41:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T13:41:55","slug":"ethiopia-ethiopian-catholic-bishops-bless-selam-residential-project-supporting-priests-welfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2026\/01\/30\/ethiopia-ethiopian-catholic-bishops-bless-selam-residential-project-supporting-priests-welfare\/","title":{"rendered":"ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Catholic Bishops Bless ‘Selam’ Residential Project Supporting Priests’ Welfare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bezawit Assefa<\/em><\/p>\n

The Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of Ethiopia (CBCE) held a blessing ceremony on January 22, 2026, for the \u201cSelam\u201d residential village, an income-generating project intended to support diocesan priests.<\/p>\n

The eight-floor residential complex, located in the Summit area under the Archdiocese of Addis Ababa, has been under construction for the past seven years and is currently 85 percent complete. The project was developed by the General Secretariat of the CBCE.<\/p>\n

The \u201cSelam\u201d residential village was built through the support of the German Catholic Church, specifically the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, in partnership with the late Pope Francis and the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of Ethiopia, under the coordination of the CBCE General Secretariat.<\/p>\n

Delivering a message at the ceremony, His Excellency Abune Markos, Bishop of Jimma\u2013Bonga Diocese and Vice President of the CBCE, described the project as a tangible expression of pastoral support and fraternity. He noted that the facility will strengthen the Church\u2019s evangelization mission by helping to meet the basic needs of priests serving Catholics across the country. He further emphasized that the project reflects the Church\u2019s long-term vision of economic self-sufficiency by reducing dependence on external support.<\/p>\n

On his part, the Secretary General of the CBCE, Rev. Fr. Ketema Asfaw, expressed gratitude to the benefactors and partners who contributed to the project\u2019s realization. He explained that the multipurpose complex includes 39 residential units, commercial shops, cafeterias, meeting halls, and ample parking. He added that the project represents one of the Church\u2019s strategic initiatives to ensure sustainable income generation.<\/p>\n

In his remarks, the President of the Ethiopian Priests\u2019 Association, Rev. Fr. Fiseha Tafesse, thanked the CBCE and its partners for their commitment to improving the living conditions and social well-being of priests. He highlighted that the initiative will strengthen priestly fraternity and foster greater solidarity by addressing priests\u2019 basic needs in the years ahead.<\/p>\n

The ceremony was attended by the Representative of the Holy See in Ethiopia, His Grace Archbishop Brian Udagwe; Ethiopian Catholic bishops; the Bishop and officials of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart; diocesan priests of the Ethiopian Catholic Church; and senior officials and staff of the CBCE General Secretariat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bezawit Assefa The Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of Ethiopia (CBCE) held a blessing ceremony on January…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amecea-news","category-ethiopia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23933,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23932\/revisions\/23933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}