I wonder if Arafat was a "Catholic" too....
Posted on 01/06/2006 4:57:17 AM PST by kronos77
Pristina, 5 Dec. (AKI) - Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova’s religious beliefs have become the subject of wild speculation as the health of the 61 year old, who is spearheading Kosovo's independence drive, worsens. Rugova has been hospitalised since last week with lung cancer and there have been widespread rumours in Pristina that he has told close associates he wants to be buried as a Catholic. About 95 per cent of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians are Muslims and the matter of Rugova’s religion has until now never been raised.
Kosovo political analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu says that Rugova was a Muslim, though he never visited a mosque, and had strong Catholic inclinations. “Personally, I believe that Rugova has converted to Catholicism, but there is not a single proof for it,” Spahiu told Belgrade daily Kurir.
During half a century of communist rule, following World War Two, religion in former Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, was marginalized or practiced clandestinely. However it gained new impetus after the collapse of communism in early nineties. Rugova graduated in linguistics at the Sorbonne University in Paris in the mid-sixties and the issue of his religion never really mattered at the time.
“We all know that Rugova has asked to be buried as Catholic,” said a source close to him, who asked to remain anonymous. There has been speculation that Rugova was converted to Catholicism in 1994 personally by Pope John Paul II, but there is no concrete proof of this.
Rugova has spearheaded the independence drive by majority ethnic Albanians in the province, which has been under United Nations control since 1999, and the talks on the final status are expected to start later this month. According to Spahiu, Rugova’s health is “extremely grave” and it wasn’t clear how active a role he would be able to play in the negotiations. But even if Rugova were to be buried as Catholic, one should expect no stormy reactions from Kosovo's Albanian Muslim community, in view of his political merits, said Spahiu.
But Kosovo Serb leaders, who oppose independence, said that Rugova’s decision, if correctly interpreted, would be a ploy to boost the independence drive.
“Rugova’s turning to Catholicism is a hoax,” claimed Kosovo Serb leader Marko Jaksic, an Orthodox Christian. “In that way he’s appealing to the Catholic world to support Kosovo independence,” said Jaksic.
Rade Negojevic, a Kosovo Serb journalist, was equally critical. “If Rugova has switched from Islam to Catholicism, he must have done it for purely political reasons,” said Negojevic.
(Vpr/Aki)
05-Jan-06 13:47
Islam is "bad" and now, Albanian Muslims try to mimic as Catholics?
Wonder if Osama will visit pope?....
Just Islam getting desperate.
I will never understand why the left supported Bill Clintoon's war - they were salivating with every bomb dropped - and yet they detest George W. Bush for getting rid of Saddam, the torturer and madman. Saddam makes Slobo look like a choir boy.
Rugova's alleged Catholicism was recently trumpeted by one of our more notorious islamofascist cheerleaders and Soros fluffer.
Anyone here surprised that it may not be true or be part of an elaborate ruse?
Didn't think so.
Rugova is bin Laden with the pope`s photo on his wall.
Wll, cause leftist are most monstruose group in history.
1. Stalin and communism
2. Hitler. Full name of Nazi Hitlers parti was German Nacional-SOCIALST party.
Democrates in America.
Worse. They destroy their own army, their own country.
I wonder if Arafat was a "Catholic" too....
Next thing we`ll see of them is Claiming that Ibrahim is actualy distant relative of Benjamin Franclin and JFK
surprissed?
surprised?
Knowing how the Albanian "identity-thievs" work....nope..I'm not surprised...
They supported clinton because the war was an attack on national sovereignty.
I find this rather hard to believe. According to the sources I find, the ratio of Christians to Muslims in Albania itself is about 30/70. I don't know why the proportion of Christians would be lower in Kosovo.
Why was Rugova thought to be a Muslim? Evidently because he has an Arabic-language given name (it seems to be common for Muslims to give their children Arabic names, even if their own language is utterly different from Arabic). But this fact only speaks to his parents' religion, not necessarily his own.
No, there are Christian Albanians in ALbania, some 10% but in Kosovo they are 95 percent Muslims.
I doubt that they woud burn Christian churches so violently if they are Christians.
The 30/70 ratio of Muslims to Christian in Albania proper is more of a myth. If it ever was true, it definitely is not true any longer. No census has been taken since the fall of communism, however various organizations (Britannica, Encarta) have placed the ratio at about 35/35, with the rest being "nonreligious", no doubt as a result of three decades of state-enforced atheism. Most of the nonreligious group would identify themselves closer culturally to Christianity.
In Kosovo itself, the (traditional) Catholic numbers are at about 5-10%. In recent years, many ethnic Albanians in Kosovo (similarly to their ethnic kin in ALbania) have started a trend of "reclaiming the religion of the forefathers". There is a collective memory of (mostly) forced conversions to Islam within the last couple of centuries, and many nominally-Muslims are of the opinion that now that the Oriental culture has receded, it is time to go back to Christianity. Ibrahim Rugova is one excellent example of this from Kosovo. From Albania proper, the internationally recognized writer Ismail Kadare is the best example.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/books/ismail-kadare-wins-first-man-booker-international-prize/2005/06/07/1118123828543.html
Now, we wait for Albanian terrorists like Arafat to take leadership.
Seems you will agree with me that Serbes who burned Catholic churches in Croatia and Bosnia are not Christians either.
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