TIRANA, Sep. 5 – On the tenth anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa, Albanian authorities initiated a ten-day campaign with many activities to commemorate the late nun.
It began with a ceremony at the house where Mother Teresa’s family had lived.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha called her the, “Albanian, who with her spiritual force managed to conquer the heart of humanity and of the citizens of the whole planet.”
Albanian authorities have honored Mother Teresa with different places named after her, busts erected in different public places and other signs of respect.
Mother Teresa, an ethnic Albanian, has long been revered in this mostly Muslim country. Tirana’s international airport and main hospital are named in her honor, and there is a memorial to her at the National Museum, which also has an annex devoted to her.
Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003, putting her on the road to possible sainthood for her life’s work building shelters, orphanages and clinics around the world to care for the downtrodden.
Born in neighboring Macedonia to an ethnic Albanian family, she went to Calcutta, India, in 1929, and began a life dedicated to the service of the poor and infirm. She died in 1997.
Albania, a predominantly Muslim nation with large Orthodox Christian and Roman Catholic minorities, is officially a secular nation, and relations between religious communities are generally good.
