In May 2019 the Irish Times argued that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church remained a powerful public institution whose internal immunity might be weakening under government reforms, even if deep change still looked distant.
The piece noted that people were beginning to speak more openly about church affairs than before, while the hierarchy still guarded land, ritual authority, and political influence.
Church–state tension is a lasting Horn theme, from patriarchal elections to diaspora parish fights, and foreign reporting from 2019 captured an early crack in silence.
Kept as religion and society archive, the Irish Times church essay is a dated marker of reform talk around the Orthodox establishment.
Sources: The Irish Times