On the Boundary of Europe, a People awakens. Albania returns to the Church!

I have lived in Western Europe for many years. And, like many of us, I have often wondered, with a certain sadness, about the evident decline of the Christian faith in our societies. Our churches are emptying, our traditions are disappearing, and a certain torpor seems to paralyse our hearts. In the course of extensive research, I came across a surprising fact – a sign, perhaps, that the Blessed Virgin Mary wants to bring to the attention of those who love her and serve the Church of her Son.

The phenomenon comes from a country that is too often forgotten: Albania. More precisely, from Kosovo, this Balkan land that has known wars, persecution, dictatorships, Islamisation... but which today, against all odds, is perhaps about to return to what it has never ceased to be at heart: a Christian land.

On 20 October 2023, in the city of Deçan, Kosovo, seventy Albanians gathered together and publicly renounced Islam, proclaiming: ‘From today on we are no longer Muslims.’ This strong, peaceful but decisive gesture marked the beginning of a massive movement of return to Catholicism, often discreet, sometimes clandestine, but very real. Since then, thousands more have followed suit.

Some have been baptised, others have embarked on a catechumenal journey, supported by courageous Catholic priests and a few intellectual converts.

This phenomenon is not just a fad. It is a return to our roots, a reawakening of the deep memory of a people who, despite five centuries of Ottoman occupation, never completely forgot their Christian identity. ‘We were never Muslims at heart,’ says Ardian Jezerci, a former Muslim who became a Catholic and is now the spokesperson for an association founded in Brussels, the Albanian League for the Return to Catholicism.

His father, a former history teacher, was called Mohamed. At the age of 70, on 9 May 2024 – Europe Day – he was baptised with the name Belisar, in homage to the Byzantine general Belisarius³, a late but luminous conversion that gave new meaning to an entire life. Together with other Albanian intellectuals, they bear witness to an unexpected religious revival, brought about not by a violent break with the past but by a gentle reconquest of the soul.

It should be remembered that Albanians are direct descendants of the Illyrians, an Indo-European people evangelised in the early centuries. In his Letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul writes: ‘By the virtue of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Ghost, so that from Jerusalem round about as far as unto Illyricum, I have replenished the gospel of Christ.’ (Rom 15:19). This is one of the first testimonies of the Christian presence on the European continent. ⁴

This early vocation has never ceased to bear fruit. It was from these lands that several Christian emperors emerged who marked the history of the Church: Constantine the Great, born a few kilometres from present-day Kosovo, in Moesia; Justinian I, protector of Christianity and builder of the Cathedral of Saint Sophia; Theodosius I, who made Christianity the state religion. All of them were of Illyrian origin.⁵

And the story does not end there. Albania gave the world one of its popes: Clement XI, born Giovanni Francesco Albani, of Albanian origin on his father's side.⁶ It also gave the world Mother Teresa of Calcutta, born in Skopje to an Albanian family, a religious figure of the 20th century whose commitment to the poor was part of the post-war missionary context.

But perhaps the most emblematic figure of this long-contested Christian identity remains Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, a national hero and Catholic leader who opposed the Ottoman invasion in the 15th century. Pope Callixtus III called him “champion of Christ” (Athleta Christi). Skanderbeg remains a reference point for Albanians of all backgrounds, proving that Catholicism survived like a fire smouldering under the ashes. That fire was smouldering. Today, it has been reinvigorated. According to several local observers, the return to Catholicism cannot be explained solely by historical or political considerations. It is also the result of a deep spiritual desire.

Many Albanians, especially young people, are discovering in Christianity a sense of human dignity, hope, and a moral and metaphysical light that Islam has never been able to provide.⁷

This is not, therefore, an aggressive rejection, but a peaceful return to a faith handed down in secret, sometimes for generations. There is talk of “hidden Catholics”, whose grandparents prayed in secret, baptised their children clandestinely, and celebrated Christmas without lights but with fervour.⁸ Today, these traditions are emerging from the shadows.

This revival is still a minority phenomenon: Catholics officially represent only 8.38% of the population in Albania and just 2% in Kosovo.⁹ But their vitality is evident. The Vatican itself is closely following the phenomenon. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, recently praised the ‘vitality’ of the Catholic community in Kosovo and its commitment to spreading the Gospel in an often difficult climate.¹⁰

It is surprising that this phenomenon receives almost no coverage in the Western media. It is as if they are afraid of a people rediscovering their Christian roots at a time when so many nations in Western Europe are emptying themselves of their faith. That is why I am taking the liberty of bringing this testimony to your attention today.

It is a beacon of light, a seed of hope. Because if a people like the Albanians – wounded by history, marked by ideologies, persecuted by atheism and forcibly Islamised – can be reborn to the Christian faith, then it is never too late for us either.

Perhaps it is a discreet work of Providence. Perhaps it is Our Lady of Good Counsel, who miraculously appeared in Genazzano in the 15th century, and whose icon mysteriously left Albania for Italy, to continue to protect her people. Perhaps it is Skanderbeg, the Athlete of Christ, who intercedes for his spiritual descendants. Or perhaps it is simply the Holy Spirit, who ‘breathes where he will’ (John 3:8).

Whatever it is, something is happening. And this something it deserves our attention, our prayer, our admiration.

Read also: Why Are We Defending a Decadent West?

At a time when Europe seems to be sinking into religious amnesia, a forgotten people is searching for remembering its evangelical roots. It remembers Christ, King of the Church and of the world. And it returns to Him, not as a figure of the past, but as the true and living Sovereign, to whom every nation is called to submit—under the benevolent gaze of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Genazzano, a sign that, in silence, a renewal may already be beginning.

Footnotes:

1. Islam-et-Vérité, ‘Du retour profond des Albanais au catholicisme’ (The profound return of Albanians to Catholicism), testimony of 25 June 2025.
2. Epistle to the Romans, 15:19.
3. Encyclopedia of World History - entries on Constantine, Justinian, Theodosius.
4. Wikipedia, article on Clement XI (Giovanni Francesco Albani).
5. FaithOnView, ‘Ethnic Albanians turn to Catholicism to reclaim their heritage,’ June 2024.
6. Le Monde, ‘À la rencontre des catholiques cachés du Kosovo’ (Meeting the hidden Catholics of Kosovo), March 2023.
7. 2023 Albanian census, official demographic data.
8. Vatican News, statement by Cardinal Parolin, February 2024.