The Valley Catholic
CNS News
September 9, 2014
13
Pope Francis’ one-day trip
expected to give Albanians hope, healing
By Carol Glatz, CNS
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis’
choice of Albania as the destination of his
first international trip in Europe reflects
his trademark pastoral approach: Head
to the peripheries, bring healing to the
suffering.
But his Sept. 21 visit to the poor, Muslim-majority nation also will highlight, to
a world increasingly torn apart by sectarian strife, a hopeful example of Muslims
and Christians living in harmony.
“The presence of the pope will say to
the people, ‘See you can work together,’”
Pope Francis told reporters last month,
praising the Albanian government’s
efforts to promote interreligious cooperation.
Catholics make up only about 16
percent of Albania’s 3 million inhabitants; about 65 percent are Muslim and
20 percent Orthodox.
Yet Muslims, Orthodox Christians
and even people of no faith “see the
pope as a charismatic person who
defends the weak and the voiceless,”
Father Meta said.
Luigj Mila, secretary-general of the
Albanian bishops’ peace and justice commission, said he expects a large number
of Muslims to welcome the pope.
Mila said Albania’s interreligious harmony is rooted in people’s common ethnicity and shared history of persecution.
Starting in 1944, Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha sought to cleanse the country
of all religion, even passing a 1967 constitutional law that banned any trace of
the divine, which made Albania the first
and so-far only atheist nation.
Catholics were disproportionally
targeted, he said, because “they had
been warning about the dangers of communism.”
Almost all of Albania’s fewer than
200 priests were jailed and scores killed.
Countless laypeople and religious faced
arrest, torture, firing squads, concentration camps and forced labor while
thousands of places of worship were confiscated and demolishe