Cardinal Joseph Tomko, sent from Pope John Paul II, beatifies a newly-rebuilt church in front of thousands of Albanian Catholics in the northern town of Shkoder, 115 km from Tirana May 24. Pope John Paul II placed the first stone in his first ever visit to the tiny Balkan country in 1993, at the start of the reconstruction of the church, which was destroyed by the former communist regime of the late communist dictator Enver Hoxha in 1967 when he banned religion until 1990.

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