Albanian Greek Catholic Church

This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message )

Albanian Greek Catholic Church
Congregation for the Oriental Churches
Region	Southern Albania
Liturgy	Byzantine Rite
Headquarters	Elbasan
Congregations	9
Members	3,845[citation needed]
Ministers	12
Other name(s)	Apostolic Administration of Southern Albania

The Albanian Greek Catholic Church,^[a] or the Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church, is an autonomous (sui iuris in Latin) Byzantine Rite particular church in full communion with the Catholic Church and the Pope of Rome, whose members live in Albania and which comprises the Apostolic Administration of Southern Albania. The Albanian Greek Catholic Church, with its Byzantine Rite, is closely linked to the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church sharing a significant commonality of history, identity and traditions.

History

Part of a series on
Particular churches sui iuris of the Catholic Church
Latin cross and Byzantine Patriarchal cross
Particular churches are grouped by liturgical rite
Alexandrian Rite
Coptic Ethiopian Eritrean
Armenian Rite
Armenian
Byzantine Rite
Albanian Belarusian Bulgarian Croatian and Serbian Greek Hungarian Italo-Albanian Macedonian Melkite Romanian Russian Ruthenian Slovak Ukrainian
East Syriac Rite
Chaldean Syro-Malabar
Latin liturgical rites
Latin
West Syriac Rite
Maronite Syriac Syro-Malankara
Catholicism portal  Christianity portal
v t e

Part of a series on
Albanians
By country
Native Albania Kosovo Croatia Greece Italy Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia Diaspora Australia Bulgaria Denmark Egypt Finland Germany Norway Romania South America Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States
Culture
Architecture Art Cuisine Dance Dress Literature Music Mythology Politics Religion Symbols Traditions Fis
Religion
Christianity Catholicism Italo-Albanian Church Albanian Greek-Catholic Church Orthodoxy Islam Sunnism Bektashism Judaism
Languages and dialects
Albanian Gheg Arbanasi Upper Reka Istrian Tosk Arbëresh Arvanitika Cham Lab
History of Albania Origin of the Albanians
v t e

The conversion to Christianity of Albania took place under Latin Christianity (and its Roman Rite liturgy) influence in the north and Byzantine Christianity in the south. Christianity was the first and the oldest monotheistic religion of Albanian people. After the fifteenth-century Ottoman conquest, some two thirds of the population accepted Islam. In 1967, Communist-ruled Albania was officially declared an atheist state.

Though the Greek liturgical rite was used in many of its churches, Albania was part of the

.

Catholics of the Latin Church were long established in the north of the country. A Catholic mission worked in the south between 1660, when the Orthodox archbishop joined the Catholic Church, to 1765 when the effort was abandoned because of obstacles placed by the Ottoman rulers. In 1895 a group of villages in Mali Shpati, southeast of

. However, after less than seven years, the administrator was expelled, and contact seemed lost with the Byzantine faithful, who found themselves under strict Communist rule.

Only in 1992 was it possible to appoint a new apostolic administrator. At first the post was given to the Holy See's diplomatic representative in

], who was appointed in 1996.

The apostolic administratorship of Southern Albania has 3,200 Catholics in nine parishes, with 11 churches, and is served by four diocesan and 10 religious priests, 10 male and 97 female religious, who administer 10 schools and 20 charitable institutions. The great majority of these are of the Latin Church.^[citation needed]

See also

• Catholic Church in Albania
• Albanian Orthodox Church
• Eastern Catholic Churches
• Italo-Albanian Catholic Church

Notes

References

Sources

• Oriente Cattolico (Vatican City: The Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches, 1974)
• Annuario Pontificio.