News Digest

Pope praises Christian-Muslim relations in Albania

Pope Francis called Sunday for moderate Muslims and all religious leaders to condemn Islamic extremists who “pervert” religion to justify violence, as he visited Albania and held up the Balkan nation as a model for interfaith harmony. The pontiff arrived Sunday in Albania on his first European trip, designed to highlight the Balkan nation’s path from a brutal communist state where religion was banned to a model of Christian-Muslim coexistence for a world witnessing conflict in God’s name. Security was tight for Francis’s visit: Albania’s Interior Ministry promised “maximum” protection from 2,500 police forces and beefed-up patrols at border crossings.

To kill in the name of God is a grave sacrilege. To discriminate in the name of God is inhuman.

Pope Francis

The capital’s main boulevard, Martyrs of the Nation, was decorated with Albanian and Vatican flags, as well as pictures of 40 Catholic priests who were persecuted or executed under Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha, who declared Albania the world’s first atheist state in 1967. Hundreds of priests and imams were jailed, scores executed. The pope’s trip will be an 11-hour marathon during which the 77-year-old pontiff will meet Albanian President Bujar Nishani, celebrate mass in Tirana’s Mother Teresa square, lunch with bishops, chat with religious leaders and visit orphans.