Albania: ” “the missionary Church” “” “

The metropolitan archbishop of Scutari, Msgr. Angelo Massafra , is a Franciscan and of mixed Italo-Albanian origin; he comes from San Marzano (Taranto). In recent days he has been participating in the general Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, being held in the Vatican until 27 October, in his role as president of the Albanian Episcopal Conference. Addressing the Assembly, Msgr. Massafra – ordained bishop in 1997 – reaffirmed his conviction that “religions have an irreplaceable role in fostering social peace”. We interviewed him. What’s been the role of the Church in the Balkans, in Albania in particular, in the last decade? “No sooner had freedom been regained in Albania than there was an appeal of the Holy See to the churches to send missionaries there: it was necessary to intervene to reconstruct the country not only materially, but also spiritually and morally. After the collapse of the Communist regime, a warm welcome was given to the priests who had survived suffering and imprisonment. The fruitful encounter between the missionaries and the local clergy gradually bore fruit: on 25 April 1993 John Paul II, during his apostolic visit to Albania, ordained the first four Albanian bishops. This was an event that also marked the hierarchical reconstruction of the local Church; between 2000 and 2001 the first 10 priests from the diocesan seminary of Scutari were ordained, five of them friars minor”. What are the most urgent needs of the Catholic community in Albania today? “The Albanian Church is above all a missionary Church. It is a minority in comparison with the Orthodox and Moslem communities. We are called to a first proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, to a kind of pre-evangelization. After 50 years of atheist Communism which tried to destroy the very idea of God in people’s hearts, we need to rebuild the foundations of life, by giving evangelical contents to the faith. We want to bring this Gospel to all the mountain areas”. What are the other priorities for the Albanian Church in the political and social fields? “We are experiencing a strong process of urbanization caused by the exodus from the mountains, an internal and external emigration, both legal and clandestine, as well as deep secularization: the Western models of consumerism especially arrive through the media. To tackle these problems Caritas plays a role of human promotion and formation. The twinning of evangelization and service to man has been the focus of the pastoral ministry in Albania over the last five years”. What place is there for ecumenical and interreligious dialogue in your pastoral work? “It’s our daily bread. We have very positive relations with the Moslems. A joint Catholic-Orthodox ecumenical meeting is due to be held in Scutari on 29 and 30 October; the European Ecumenical Charter will be presented to the participants during the meeting. This ecumenical partnership began five years ago: the major issues of the day, from peace to the reception of refugees, unite us. The diocesan Caritas promoted an ecumenical meeting called the ‘village of peace’ in Scutari from 21 to 25 September: it was an international conference attended by exponents of the three religions of Albania and of Sarajevo, university teachers and representatives of European and American institutions and of the Holy See”. Reverberations of the conflict now taking place are also reaching Albania… “We are praying for peace. We have, with all the faithful, responded to the Pope’s invitation to pray the rosary. Numerous pilgrimages to the church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, in Scutari, also took place in October. We pray that peace may return and the bombardments may cease; I hope nothing will happen in Albania, but there may be risks”. Laura Badaracchi