The Albanian Byzantine Catholic Church is an autonomous Byzantine Rite particular Church of the Roman Catholic Church, whose members lives in Albania, and is not to be confused with the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church. The term Eastern Rites may refer to the liturgical rites used by many ancient Christian Churches of Eastern Europe and the Middle East that, while being part of the Roman Catholic Church, are distinct from the Latin Rite or Western Church. ... A Particular Church , in Roman Catholic theology and canon law, is any of the individual constituent ecclesial communities in full communion with the Church of Rome and thus make up the Catholic Communion. ... The Roman Catholic Church, (also known as the Catholic Church), is the ancient Christian Church led by the Bishop of Rome (commonly called the Pope). ... The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church, also known as the Italo-Greek Catholic Church, is one of the Byzantine Rite sui juris churches of the Catholic Communion. ...

History

Christianization of Albania took place under Latin influence in the north, under Greek in the south. After the fifteenth-century Turkish conquest, some two thirds of the population accepted Islam. In 1967, Communist-ruled Albania was officially declared an atheist state. Christianity is a monotheistic religion that recognizes Jesus Christ as its central figure, Lord and Messiah. ... Islam (Arabic: ; ( ▶ (help· info)), the submission to God) is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions and the worlds second-largest religion. ...

Though the Greek liturgical rite was used in many of its churches, Albania was part of the patriarchate of Rome until 731, when Byzantine Emperor Leo III, in reprisal for the opposition of Pope Saint Gregory III to the emperor's iconoclast policy, attached the whole of eastern Illyricum to the patriarchate of Constantinople. Saint Gregory III, pope (731-741), a Syrian by birth, succeeded Gregory II in March 731. ... Illustration of the Beeldenstorm during the Dutch reformation Literally, iconoclasm is the destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives. ...

Catholics, of Latin Rite, 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 Turkish rulers. In 1895 a group of villages in Mali Shpati, southeast of Elbasan in central Albania, decided to become Catholic and demanded a Catholic bishop of their own rite, a proposal to which the consular representatives of Russia and Montenegro raised objections with the civil authorities. At about the same time, another group of Byzantine-Rite Catholics arose, centred on an archimandrite who was a nephew of the Orthodox metropolitan. Numbers grew only to a small extent, but enough for southern Albania to become in 1939 a separate ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the care of an Apostolic Administrator. 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. Elbasan (Albanian: Elbasan or Elbasani) is a city in central Albania. ... Archimandrite (Greek: ἀρχιμανδρίτης - archimandrites) is a title in the Greek Orthodox Church for a superior abbot who has the supervision of several abbots and monasteries appointed by a bishop. ... In the Catholic church, the Apostolic Administrator is a person appointed by the Pope to serve in a leadership role for a Diocese that either has no Bishop (an apostolic administrator sede vacante) or,in very rare cases,has an incapacitated bishop (apostolic administrator sede plena). ...

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 Tirana, Archbishop Ivan Dias, who later became Archbishop of Mumbai and a cardinal. Archbishop Dias's successor as Apostolic Administrator of Southern Albania, not as Nuncio, is the Croatian-born Byzantine-Rite Franciscan Bishop Hil Kabashi, who was appointed in 1996. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Ivan Cardinal Dias is the Archbishop of Bombay in Mumbai, India. ... Mumbai (Hindi / Marathi: मुंबई) (pronounced in Marathi, and in English), formerly known as Bombay is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra, and is the most populous Indian city, with a estimated population of about 18 million (2005). ... A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking just below the Pope and appointed by him as a member of the College of Cardinals during a consistory. ... The Order of Friars Minor and other Franciscan movements are disciples of Saint Francis of Assisi. ...

The Apostolic Administratorship of Southern Albania has 3,200 Catholics in 9 parishes, with 11 churches, and is served by 4 diocesan and 10 religious priests, 10 male and 97 female religious, who administer 10 schools and 20 charitable institutions.

See also

Eastern Rite The term Eastern Rites may refer to the liturgical rites used by many ancient Christian Churches of Eastern Europe and the Middle East that, while being part of the Roman Catholic Church, are distinct from the Latin Rite or Western Church. ...

Sources

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

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