The Archdiocese

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Shkodër-Pult is the Catholic Church in the city of Shkodër and in the plains and mountains of northern Albania. Its cathedral is St Stephen’s in Shkodër; its parishes, grouped in four pastoral zones, are served by the diocesan clergy together with many religious orders and congregations.

Christianity reached the Roman province of Praevalitana early: the first known bishop of Shkodër, Bassus, is recorded around 387. Pope Pius IX raised Shkodër to an archdiocese and metropolitan see on 15 March 1867, and in 2005 the neighbouring Diocese of Pult was united with it, giving the archdiocese its present name.

Under the communist regime the Church was persecuted. In 1967 every church in Albania was closed, and the cathedral of Shkodër was turned into a sports hall. On 4 November 1990 Mass was celebrated again, at the Rrëmaj cemetery; the cathedral reopened on 7 March 1991, in the presence of Mother Teresa, and on 25 April 1993 Pope John Paul II consecrated there the first bishops of the reborn Church in Albania.

Many priests, religious and lay people of the archdiocese were killed out of hatred for the faith. Thirty-eight of them, Archbishop Vinçenc Prennushi and 37 companions, were beatified in Shkodër on 5 November 2016; Fr Luigj Paliq and Dom Gjon Gazulli were beatified there on 16 November 2024. In the footsteps of the martyrs of communism (1946–1990)

Archbishop Giovanni Peragine, a Barnabite born in Altamura (Italy) in 1965, has been a missionary in Albania since 1998. He became a bishop in 2017 as Apostolic Administrator of Southern Albania, was appointed coadjutor of Shkodër-Pult on 20 May 2024, and has led the archdiocese since January 2025, succeeding Archbishop Angelo Massafra, O.F.M. His biography (in Albanian)

• St Stephen’s Cathedral, Sheshi Gjon Pali II, Shkodër.
• The Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel (in Albanian), Shkodër.
• The Diocesan Museum and the “Lin Delija” Gallery.
• The “San Damiano” guesthouse of the Poor Clare monastery, for those who wish to stay a while in silence and prayer (in Italian).
• The parishes on the map, with their priests and contacts (in Albanian).

The Curia of the Archdiocese is at the cathedral, on Sheshi Gjon Pali II in Shkodër. Write to us or call us.