Albanian Church

On Saturday, in the northern city of Shkodra, 38 Catholics killed for their faith under Albania's Communist regime will be beatified in what is being called the biggest single Albanian Catholic event ever.

The Mass that around 10,000 people are expected to attend will be held by Cardinal Angelo Amato, the Pope's Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican.

The Catholic Church in Albania on Thursday announced that 38 Christians martyred for their faith in the Communist era will be beatified in Rome this year.

The Albanian Catholics were executed or died in prison between 1944 and 1969, when Enver Hoxha's harsh Communist regime banned all religions and persecuted those who did not abandon their faith.