PRISTINA, Kosovo (RNS) — Twenty years after the death of St. Teresa of Calcutta, thousands of Christians and Muslims came together to celebrate the consecration, in her name, of this nation’s first Roman Catholic cathedral. St. Teresa Cathedral is also the only one in the world dedicated to the Albanian saint, who spent most of her life working in the slums of India.The consecration Tuesday (Sept. 5), which falls on the one-year anniversary of her canonization in Rome, was long-awaited by the small but active Catholic community in Kosovo.The mostly Muslim Balkan state declared its independence from Serbia almost a decade after St. Teresa — still often referred to as Mother Teresa — died in 1997.
Most Kosovars are Albanian — as St. Teresa was — and the Catholics among them have especially anticipated the completion and blessing of the cathedral.
“It is special for every Catholic in Kosovo and the region,” said Bardhe Cetta, 39, a member of the choir that sang at the consecration and one of 5,000 people who attended the ceremony. “It’s not the first time that we are singing in (this) church but this time it is something special. So for me, today is a big day.”
Special Envoy Cardinal Ernest Troshani Simoni, appointed by Pope Francis, delivers a speech as part of the consecration ceremony at the Mother Teresa Cathedral. Photo by Valerie Plesch
Although the Holy See still does not recognize Kosovo’s 2008 independence from Serbia, Pope Francis appointed the 88-year-old Rev. Ernest Troshani Simoni as his special envoy to lead the ceremony, attended by local Catholic bishops, ambassadors, soldiers from NATO’s peacekeeping force and other dignitaries as well as the faithful.
Simoni, an Albanian priest, survived nearly 30 years of torture while in labor camps under the communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha. The priest was twice sentenced to death at a time when the government banned practicing religion. In 2016, Pope Francis named Simoni as Albania’s new cardinal.
Simoni told the audience it was a special honor to be at the sanctuary.
“It was a great joy for me when I heard from the pope that I personally would come to Pristina, to send my heartfelt congratulations to the Kosovar-Albanian brothers, and that the Lord’s blessing be in the hearts of all Kosovars,” Simoni said.
For over two hours, priests and bishops from the region participated in a holy Mass as part of the consecration ceremonies. Priests blessed different areas of the cathedral with oil, including a newly mounted wall sculpture of St. Teresa and a stone altar. Kosovo’s president, Hashim Thaci, who is Muslim, gave a speech.
Though Kosovo’s estimated 65,000 Catholics represent a small fraction of the nation’s predominantly Muslim population of 1.8 million, their faith has strong roots in the region.
When the Ottoman Empire — historically centered in Istanbul – ruled Kosovo from the early 15th century until 1912, most Albanians converted to Islam. But some Catholics remained. Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia, which at the time was the capital of the Ottoman Turkish province of Kosovo. Her parents were Albanian.
“We need to reclaim the centuries because, since the arrival of the Ottomans, hundreds of churches and cathedrals were destroyed,” said the Rev. Lush Gjergji, the general vicar of Kosovo’s Catholic diocese and also Mother Teresa’s close friend and biographer.
He noted that only one church from before the 1500s exists today in Kosovo. “When Kosovo was all Catholic, we had more than 10 cathedrals.” … read more