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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father Benedict XVI, on January 20, 2010, erected the new Apostolic Vicariate of Hosanna (Ethiopia), using territory taken from the current Apostolic Vicariate of Soddo-Hosanna. The Supreme Pontiff also appointed as first Apostolic Vicar of Hosanna (Ethiopia), Fr. Woldeghiorghis Mathewos, Spiritual Father of the Soddo-Hosanna Major Seminary in Addis Ababa, assigning him the Titular See of Turuda.
The new Apostolic Vicar of Hosanna, entrusted to the Capuchin Friars Minor, will neighbor to the north the Eparchy of Emdibir, to the east, the Apostolic Vicariate of Meki, to the south with that of Soddo, and to the west with those of Jimma-Bonga and Nekemte. The main church of the Vicariate, which would in future serve as a Cathedral, is yet to be built. For now, the new vicar will be able to use a small parish church situated near the same pre-seminary, or a large church, lately built by the Cistercian Monks of Casamari in Hosanna, in which, however, the liturgy is usually celebrated according to the Eastern Rite. Patron of the new Vicariate will be St. Joseph.
The first Apostolic Vicar of Hosanna, Fr. Woldeghiorghis Mathewos, was born in 1942 in Wasser, in the Kambatta region of the Vicariate Apostolic of Soddo-Hosanna. From 1960 to 1962 he attended the last 3 years of secondary school at St. Anthony 's High School in Goa, India. Later, he entered the Pontifical Seminary of Saint Peter in Bangalore (1962-1969), where he studied philosophy and theology. He was ordained a priest May 4, 1969 at Hosanna, the first native priest of the Apostolic Vicariate of Soddo-Hosanna. After ordination, he carried out the following tasks: 1969-1978: Director of the Vicariate Catechetical Center and formator in the Minor Seminary of Inter-Oletta, 1978-1981: Personal Secretary to Apostolic Vicar and Pro-Vicar Apostolic, 1981-1994: Pastor of parishes in Hosanna and Wasser; 1995-2004: Rector of the Pre-Seminary of Hosanna; since 2005: Spiritual Director of the Major Seminary of Soddo-Hosanna in Addis Ababa and Vice-Rector of the same seminary. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 21/1/2010)
