Albania
Only one of the leaders of the Church in Albania is now at liberty. He is Mgr. Bernard Shaklu, O.F.M., Bishop of Pulati. The whole of the remainder have been killed or are in jail.
Latest figures issued from Vatican City also indicate the extent of the persecution of the clergy in general. Out of 70 secular priests. 12 have been killed and others imprisoned: of 55 Jesuits, 17 priests and 14 Italian lay brothers have been expelled; out of 50 Franciscans, at least 12 have been killed.
Practically all religious institutions and orders have been suppressed and all Catholic schools are closed.
In Communist Yugoslavia, too, the persecution continues. On Monday last a Trieste priest, Antonio Smorkel. was badly beaten by four men with sticks in the Yugoslav zone. He had crossed the frontier with a number of school children for a festival in the village of San Servalo. It is reported that the police made no attempt to intervene.