A different account of Archbishop Joan/His Beatitude: I grew up in a neighborhood where respect for man was high

2025-10-22 22:15:00, Aktualitet CNA

A different account of Archbishop Joan/His Beatitude: I grew up in a

The Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and all of Albania, His Beatitude Joani, is conducting an interview this evening on journalist Blendi Fevziu's "Opinion" show.

His Beatitude spoke about his childhood and shared his memories at a time when religion was forbidden in Albania. The Archbishop said that for the first time as a child he entered a Church in the center of Tirana, where he said that as soon as you entered, you felt as if you were entering another world.

He confessed that he grew up in a neighborhood of Tirana where respect for people was high and no house had a key. He said that he lived in that neighborhood until he was 20 years old.

"It was definitely not an easy period. When we were young and children, we probably didn't understand all the oppression. Very little. I remember once a neighbor of ours took us along with some other children, and it was Easter, I was very little, to the church in the center, where today is the Tirana Hotel.

That image always stayed in my mind, the church, the candles, the icons, the incense, the clergy's clothing, etc., all of these created a kind of feeling of another world. We also talked about some objects at that time, a tekke, a mosque nearby, because I grew up on Qemal Stafa Street, not far from the red school.

When we moved to another neighborhood, we realized that that neighborhood was special, they had respect for people, and I'm even surprised that they didn't arrest us. It was a dead end, no house had a key, we would enter each other's houses, we would play.

"When we changed neighborhoods, we were adults, I believe in Tirana as everywhere in Albania, they had a relationship, but not like in the neighborhood in the Red School. I was in that neighborhood until the age of 20, where I received the most complete education, because education is a continuous process ," His Beatitude expressed. /CNA