“The beatification of Mother Teresa on 19 October has not only given impetus to the Catholic presence in the country, but has also favoured a growth of knowledge of and dialogue with the Orthodox and Moslem faiths”: so said Archbishop Angelo Massafra of Scutari, president of the Albanian Episcopal Conference. “On 16 and 17 November continued Msgr. Massafra we have proposed a two-day meeting in Scutari, a month after the celebration of the 25th anniversary of John Paul II’s pontificate to reflect on his life and work and to analyse his commitment to ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. The time has come for Albanian dioceses to question the future of the ministry, starting out from the family and vocations”. The assembly of the Episcopal Conference will be held from 9 to 11 December with the participation of the bishops of Durres-Tirana, Scutari, Lezhe, Pult, Rheshen, Sape and the apostolic Administrator of southern Albania. Some 110 priests, 300 female religious and a hundred or so male religious are active in the country. Catholics form some 6% of the population (190,000 faithful out of 3.2 million inhabitants).
