Albania comes back from Crucifixion
At First Things, Fr Benedict Kiely described the resurrection of Albania’s Catholic Church. It had a lot to recover from: “In 1945, when the communists seized power in Albania, the Church began to be persecuted with a ferocity not seen since the first centuries of Christianity.”
The despot Enver Hoxha declared Albania the world’s first atheist state – and he hated the Church most of all. Priests were rounded up and sent to camps.
“The Catholic Cathedral in Skhodra, the centre of Catholicism in Albania, was turned into a gymnasium, and other churches were bulldozed and eliminated.” Only in utmost secrecy, away from the authorities’ watchful eye, could the faith be practised.
