It was the 13th of February in 1919 when the venerable Pope Benedict XV, according to the Apostolic Constitution “Catholici Fideles,” founded the Eparchy of Lungro of the Italo – Albanians in Continental Italy for:
“the Catholic faithful of Greek rite, who lived in Epirus and in Albania and fled, at different times, from their Turkish conquerors…were welcomed warmly in the lands of Calabria and Sicily, and there continued to practice their customs and traditions, especially the Greek rites of their Church, along with all the laws and customs that had been passed down from their ancestors and preserved with great care and love for centuries. The lifestyle of these Albanian refugees and their religious practices were allowed to continue by the Pope’s authority, so that beyond their borders, they found a new homeland on Italian soil. […]”.
The Holy See responded with paternal benevolence to the pressing requests for protection from the descendants of the Albanian leader George Castriota Skanderbeg, known as the “Athlete of Christ” because of his and his brave soldiers’ struggle, for a quarter of a century, in defence of freedom and self – determination for the people of European Christianity.