CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ALBANIA PREPARES FOR BLOOD FEUD EXCOMMUNICATIONS

October 8, 2012

The Catholic Church in Albania has finally had enough of the increasing number of vendetta murders and has proved that it can excommunicate people for more than just the heinous crime of tax evasion! (See blog post dated September 21, 2012: The Soul Tax: Pay Your Tithes Or Be Cursed).

In Albania there is now an average of 10 such murders a month. Added to other homicide figures this makes Albania the murder capital of the Balkans, with about four murders per 100,000 people.

As well as announcing the decree to excommunicate those who commit these murders, the Church is also calling for stricter sentences, suggesting life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole. It is good that the Church is taking a serious stance, and it is a pity it has not been as vocal in other instances, such as when the Catholic IRA was blowing up innocent people in the UK before the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Still, better late than never, I suppose.

Having said this, unequivocal condemnation is not the same as excommunication. The Church has a duty to opt for the former when the the main tenet of Christianity, which is to love God and, as an extension of that, ones neighbour, is flouted. But excommunication is another matter. The "sinner" excommunicates himself or herself by his or her cruel deeds. It is not up to the Church to block someone from God. Even if it could do that, doing it would be one of the greatest sins of all.