Ethiopian Emperor Susenyos converts to Catholicism (1622)

Timeline

1. 1607–1621Gorgora, Lake Tana · EthiopiaAfter acceding in 1607, Susenyos formed a close friendship with Jesuit Pedro Páez, who built a stone church at Gorgora and learned Amharic. Under Páez's influence the emperor gradually accepted Catholic doctrine, though he did not announce it publicly beforehand.
2. 1622Dankaz · EthiopiaIn 1622 Susenyos publicly received the Catholic sacraments, declared Roman Catholicism the state religion of the empire, and separated from all wives except his first. Páez died the same year; the conversion policy was pushed top-down by the emperor before the more radical successor Afonso Mendes arrived.
3. 1622–1626Ethiopian Highlands · EthiopiaThe conversion aroused strong discontent among Orthodox clergy, nobles, and commoners. After Rome sent Afonso Mendes as vicar apostolic in 1624, policy grew harsher, banning Sabbath observance, long fasts, and other local Orthodox customs; armed resistance broke out around 1626, and a full-scale religious civil war brewed.