in 1995 and he was appointed the first Eparch of Barentu. On 28 February 1961, the Ethiopian Catholic Church was established as a Metropolitan sui iuris Church, consisting of the Archeparchy of Addis Ababa and two suffragan sees, one of which was that of Asmara, while the other was the newly created Ethiopian Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat (previously the Prefecture Apostolic of Tigray). Coincidentally, the Eritrean War of Independence began later that year, and ended in 1991 with a decisive Eritrean victory. In independent Eritrea On 21 December 1995, under Pope John Paul II, parts of the Eparchy of Asmara became two new eparchies, based respectively in Keren and Barentu. The much-reduced Apostolic Vicariate of Asmara was abolished. The only Catholic Church jurisdictions in Eritrea were thus all of the Ethiopian Catholic Church, making Eritrea the only country where all Catholics, including members of the Latin Church, are entrusted to the care of Eastern Catholic bishops. On 24 February 2012, Pope Benedict XVI created a fourth eparchy based in Segheneyti with territory taken from the then Eparchy of Asmara. On 19 January 2015, Pope Francis erected the Eritrean Catholic Church as an autonomous sui iuris metropolitan church with Asmara as its metropolitan see and the other three Eritrean eparchies as suffragans, separating it from the Ethiopian Catholic Church, whose metropolitan see was left with three suffragans. Eparchies There are four eparchies (bishoprics) in the country: The metropolitan see is the Archeparchy of Asmara The Eparchy of Barentu with faithful drawn largely from the Kunama people The Eparchy of Keren with the highest percentage of the local population (nearly 12%) and with faithful drawn largely from the Bilen people The Eparchy of Segheneyti in the country's Southern Administrative Region. Statistics 2016 Relations with Government of Eritrea Since 2004, the State Department of the United States of America has repeatedly listed the State of Eritrea as a country of particular concern with regard to religious freedom. However, it indicates that the Catholic Church is granted some favours, limited in number and extent, not granted to other religious communities: "permission to host some visiting clergy; to receive funding from the Holy See; to travel for religious purposes and training in small numbers; and to receive exemptions from national service for seminary students and nuns". National service is demanded of most Eritreans, men and women, between the ages of 18 and 40, or in