Catholic Church in Kosovo

The Catholic Church has a population in Kosovo of approximately 65,000 in a region of roughly 2 million people. Another 60,000 Kosovan Catholics are outside the region, mainly for work. They are mainly ethnic Albanians, with a few Croats.

The Diocese of Prizren-Pristina (until 5 September 2018, an Apostolic Administration of Prizren) is the ecclesiastical district of the Catholic Church in Kosovo. It is centered in the city of Prizren. Bishop Dodë Gjergji serves as diocesan bishop .
, the Holy See does not recognise Kosovo as a sovereign state (see also Holy See's reaction to the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence).

Papal nuncio

Archbishop Juliusz Janusz, 66, originally a priest of the Archdiocese of Kraków, Poland, is the Apostolic Nuncio to Slovenia and the Apostolic Delegate to Kosovo; he had served previously as Apostolic Nuncio to Hungary and before that as Apostolic Nuncio to Mozambique and Rwanda. He was delegate from 10 February 2011 to 21 September 2018.

Titular archbishop of Sulci Jean-Marie Speich is Apostolic Nuncio to Slovenia and Apostolic Delegate to Kosovo from 19 March 2019.

History

Middle Ages

After the Great Schism between the east and the west, Albanians who had ties to the Roman church started converting to catholicism. Northern Albanians started to convert to catholicism en masse during the 12th and 13th centuries, including Albanians living in Kosovo. During the late 12th century Kosovo was fully conquered by Stefan Nemanja, thus introducing Serbian Orthodoxy to local Vlachs, Bulgarians and Catholic Albanians. Albanians in Kosovo are reported by Stefan Uroš I, as well as Albanian toponyms in the Drenica valley and Dukagjin plains (1246-1255) as well as in Rugovo (1292).Iseni, Bashkim (25 January 2008)
La question nationale en Europe du Sud-Est : genèse, émergence et développement de l'indentité nationale albanaise au Kosovo et en Macédoine
Bern: P. Lang. p. 77. ISBN 3039113208. Most of these Albanians were Roman Catholic.

When Stefan Dečanski founded the Visoki Dečani monastery in 1327, he referred to "villages and katuns of Vlachs and Albanians" in the area of White Drin. King Stefan Dečanski granted the Visoki Dečani monastery with pasture land along with catholic Vlach and Albanian katuns around Drin and Lim rivers of whom had to carry salt and provide serf labour for the monastery. A chrisobull of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan that was given to the Monastery of Saint Mihail and Gavril in Prizren between the years of 1348-1353 states the presence of catholic Albanians in the Plains of Dukagjin, the vicinity of Prizren and in the villages of Drenica. In 1348 a total of 9 Albanian villages are mentioned in the vicinity of Prizren. Albanian catholic communities lived in Novo Brdo and Janjevo alongside Saxon miners and Ragusan merchants. Ragusan documents in the early 14th century mention 150 catholic Albanian household heads living in Novo Brdo with their families. They also mention Albanian communities in Trepça and Prizren. Albanian presence is also mentioned in 14th and 15th century Pristina.

Pope John XXII tried to turn catholic Albanians against Serbian rule, but this didn't succeed. In 1332, an anonomous Dominican priest called for help to liberate "catholic Latins and Albanians who detest Slavic rule" from the Kingdom of Rascia(Serbia). Under the rule Tsar Stefan Dušan catholic Albanians were persecuted and were forcefully converted to Serbian orthodoxy, thus having their names changed to Slavic orthodox names. After the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 Serbian rule in Kosovo started to weaken and Ottoman Islam was first introduced in Kosovo, with the first mosques being built in Pristina, Vučitrn and Prizren. In 1455 Kosovo was fully conquered by the Ottomans, with Novo Brdo falling in 27 of June 1441, Prizren in 21 of June 1455 and Zvečan in 1455, thus ending 157 years of Serbian rule in Kosovo.

Kosovo war (1997-1999)

During the Kosovo war, vandalisation of Kosovo Albanian Catholic churches occurred. The Catholic Church of St Anthony located in Gjakovë had major damage done by Yugoslav Serb soldiers. "Major damage to the Roman Catholic church of St Anthony in Gjakova, reportedly bombed by NATO, was actually committed by Serbian soldiers." In Pristina, Yugoslav Serb officers ejected nuns and a priest from the Catholic church of St. Anthony and installed aircraft radar in the steeple.. " Albanian Catholic churches were also vandalized. Riedlmayer learned that Serb officers had installed anti-aircraft radar in the steeple of St. Anthony's Catholic church in Pristina, after ejecting the priest and nuns; NATO bombing of the radar, and therefore the church and surrounding houses, would have been labelled an atrocity."

Modern period

On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania. The Catholic Church in Kosovo held mass on 1 December across the country and it collected charitable donations by parishioners for earthquake victims and their families.

One of the oldest Catholic churches in Kosovo is the Catholic church of Vinarc, in Mitrovica.

Churches

Mother Teresa Cathedral, Pristina2.jpg, Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa
Catholic Church of Letnica, Kosovo..JPG, Church of Letnica
Church of Letnica (interior).JPG, Interior
Church_of_Stublla,_Kosovo.JPG, Church of Stublla
Interior_of_Stublla_Church.JPG, Interior
Church of Morava e Binçës, Kosovo.jpg, Church ceiling of Morava e Binçës.
Stained glass depiction of Catholicism and Catholic life in Kosovo at the Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa in Prishtina.jpg, Stained glass depiction of Catholicism and Catholic life in Kosovo, Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa in Pristina

See also

* Religion in Kosovo
* Christianity in Kosovo
** Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo
** Protestantism in Kosovo
** Kosovo Protestant Evangelical Church (KPEC)
* Laramans, historical community of crypto-Catholics

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catholicism In Kosovo

Kosovo