Bishops praise martyrs ahead of beatification

Albania’s Catholic bishops have urged church members to remain “strong, courageous and wise” in the run-up to the mass beatification of 38 communist-era martyrs on 5 November, writes Jonathan Luxmoore.  

“The communist dictator accused us of always being allied to counter-revolutionaries,” the Bishops’ Conference said in a pastoral letter. “Such words show what Albanians had to live through, in those difficult times of hatred and struggle. Yet far from weakening the faith, the experience built a Church full of life and dynamism from the blood of its martyrs.”

The letter was published amid preparations for the beatification Mass at the northern see of Shkodër-Pult.