Angelo Massafra

The archbishop of Shkoder-Pult, Angelo Massafra, announced on Thursday that from January 1, he will not allow people to get married on Sundays, causing surprise and some dismay among Catholics in Albania.

Artur Jaku, a priest in Shkodra, told Albanian Public Television, RTSH that the most important reason was that on Sundays, Catholics should go to Mass.

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.