Article: Pope's visit confirms Albania's new status.

OXFORD, England - "I have fully preached the gospel," says St. Paul in Romans 15:18, "as far round as Illyricum." Illyricum was the Roman name for Albania. Inevitably, Pope John Paul II quoted this text on his daylong trip to Albania on April 25.

It was his 58th international journey and the first visit of a pope to Albania, though it is only 50 miles across the Adriatic from Italy. In 1981 he went down to Bari, shrine of the relics of St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) and practically bellowed over the sea for religious liberty.

At the time, it seemed an impossible dream. For in 1967 Albania had become the first officially atheist state in which any ...

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