Announcing this joyful news to his Salesian confreres and to the entire Salesian Family in the region, the current Superior of the Maria Kidane Meheret Province of Africa-Ethiopia-Eritrea (AET), Fr Ignacio Laventure, shared a message of gratitude and prayer: “It is with great joy that we have received the news that His Holiness Pope Leo XIV has appointed our confrere Hailemariam Medhin, SDB, as Coadjutor Bishop of the Vicariate of Gambella, having already served as Superior of the AET Province!”
“We thank God for his generous service and leadership amongst us, just as we give thanks to God for this call that our brother has received and for the response of faith that Hailemariam has given,” continues Fr Laventure’s message.
“I invite us all to commit ourselves to praying for him, that the Lord may grant him the heart of a true shepherd for the Church he is called to serve,” concluded the Superior of AET.
Hailemariam Medhin Tesfay was born to Medhin Tesfay and Amlesu Welde Selassie in Awo, in the Alitena district – a mountainous and remote area of northern Tigray, Ethiopia – on 1 October 1974. He completed his novitiate between 1994 and 1995 at the Salesian house in Addis Ababa-Gotera; he took his perpetual vows on 19 August 2001 in Addis Ababa; and he was ordained a priest on 4 May 2003 in Adigrat.
Between 2003 and 2006 he served in the community of Adua, first as Vice-Rector, then as Parish Priest and Economer He then spent several years in Rome (2006–2009 and 2014–2016) to further his studies at the Pontifical Salesian University (UPS), a period interspersed with work in Kenya at the Salesian formation house in Utume, Nairobi (2009–2013).
From 2016 to 2019, he served as Rector of the Salesian community in Mekanissa, near the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and began to take on his first provincial-level responsibilities, holding the roles of Councillor of the AET Province and Delegate for the Salesian Family (from 2018).
From August 2019 to August 2025, he was Superior of the Salesians of AET, having to face during his term the extremely difficult social and humanitarian situation caused first by the Covid-19 pandemic and, above all, by the large-scale war between the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray Region.
In 2024–2025, he was also a member of the Pre-Chapter Commission for the 29th General Chapter of the Salesians of Don Bosco, tasked with gathering, summarising and drafting the preparatory documents for GC29.
As Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic, Bishop Hailemariam Medhin Tesfay will now become the principal collaborator of the Vicar Apostolic of Gambella, Bishop Roberto Bergamaschi, also a Salesian of Don Bosco, who has held the post since 2020; and he will automatically succeed him at the helm of the diocese when the see becomes vacant.
