Pope meets bishops from Ethiopia, Eritrea at seminary inside Vatican

Published: 2005-10-17

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI met with the bishops of Ethiopia and Eritrea at the Ethiopian College, marking the 75th anniversary of the inauguration of the seminary inside the Vatican walls. Ethiopian candidates for the priesthood moved into the Vatican in 1919 at the invitation of Pope Benedict XV. The current building, with its Eastern-rite chapel and iconostasis, opened in 1930 under Pope Pius XI. "The location of the college here inside Vatican City is an eloquent sign of the close bonds of communion linking the church in your countries with the see of Rome," the pope told the bishops Oct. 17 in the college on the hill behind St. Peter's Basilica. The bishops were in Rome for their "ad limina" visits, which the heads of dioceses make every five years. Normally the pope meets with bishops in the Apostolic Palace. Pope Benedict praised the Eastern- and Latin-rite Catholics of Ethiopia and Eritrea for "the united witness that you give."

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