Historedia
Episode 1 of 2

Declaration of Catholicism

When
11 February 1626
Where
Ethiopia
Part of
Imposition of Roman Catholicism in Ethiopia

Susenyos and Mendes publicly acknowledge Roman primacy and make Catholicism the state religion.

On 11 February 1626, a public ceremony was held where Emperor Susenyos and Patriarch Mendes acknowledged the primacy of the Roman See. They condemned local practices like the Saturday Sabbath and frequent fasts, formally establishing Catholicism as the state religion of Ethiopia.

Sources

  1. Afonso Mendes Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-05
  2. Susenyos I Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-11

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.