Rrok Mirdita

Day 2,876, 07:21 • Published in Albania Albania • by MAIMADHINVEN123

He was ordained a priest on July 2, 1965, aged 25, and served in ethnic Albanian parishes in Bronx and Westchester counties of New York.

On December 25, 1992, aged 53, he was appointed the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tiranë-Durrës and consecrated on April 25, 1993, by Pope John Paul II and Cardinals Camillo Ruini and Jozef Tomko, along with three other bishops (Zef Simoni, Frano Illia and Robert Ashta) during the Pope's pastoral visit to Albania. Mirdita is the President of Albanian Bishops Conference and the Chairman of Caritas Albania.[citation needed]

On his initiative St. Paul's Cathedral was built in Tirana. Its triangular architecture, according to the Archbishop's idea, symbolizes the cohabitation of Islam, Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism in Albania. The first Holy Mass in the new cathedral was celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican's Secretary of State, and Archbishop Mirdita on January 27, 2002. The Archbishop's house was built next to the Orthodox cathedral and at Christmas 1999, Mirdita and the Orthodox Archbishop Anastasios (Anastas) greeted parishioners together.[citation needed] Rrok Mirdita is Honorary Citizen of Tirana, Albania.