France24/ "Catholics of the chest", how the Muslims of Kosovo are converting to the religion of their ancestors

France24

In an austere church perched above a picturesque valley in central Kosovo, Ismet Sopi tells how his family hid their Catholic faith for centuries after converting to Islam during the Ottoman occupation of the Balkans.

For generations, his ancestors kept their beliefs secret until 2008, when Sopi and his family openly embraced Catholicism and were baptized together.

"We are very happy. It is as if we have paid a debt to our ancestors who did not have the opportunity to freely define their faith like we did," the 65-year-old Kosovo Albanian told AFP, saying that 36 family members are now practicing Catholics.

"Until then we were living as closet Catholics", added Sopi. "We were Muslims during the day and Christians at night."

The retired journalist now spends a large part of his days studying in the newly built church of Saint Abraham in Llapushnik near his ancestral home.

Built on land donated by the municipality and financed by the Albanian diaspora, it overlooks the Drenica Valley -- a region famous for rebellion and independence. It was here that the first flames of the Albanian uprising against Serbian rule erupted into direct conflict in the late 1990s.

New opening

In recent years, many crypto-Christians or "laramanes" -- which means colorful or multi-planned in the Albanian language -- have openly embraced Catholicism.

Sopi said that about 120 people from the Llapushnik area were baptized in Saint Abraham in the last two years alone.

But the true number of new converts may be impossible to know, he admits.

Shan Zefi -- the Catholic vicar general of the Prizren-Pristina diocese -- estimated that Catholics make up two to three percent of Kosovo's population of 1.8 million, the vast majority of whom are Muslims who practice a liberal version of the faith.

After conquering the Balkans in the 14th century, the Ottomans imposed Islam on the population for half a millennium.

Many of the Christians who did not flee converted to escape pressure and harassment, said Zefi, a scholar who has written extensively on the history of the "Laramans."

Monasteries and churches were converted into mosques, while Christians were hit with heavy taxes and faced social challenges.

Converts changed their names and participated in Islamic rites. But some families kept their faith hidden throughout the centuries and prayed at home in secret, according to Zefi.

While 1 in 10 people across the border in Albania is Catholic, only in recent years have Kosovars embraced their Catholic roots.

Zefi said a new era of openness began with the end of Serbian rule in the late 1990s. Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008 also led to a renaissance in civil society.

"I think Albanians will dare to come out of the catacombs, to say that they are free and belong to this or that faith," said Zefi in his church in Prizren, the historical cradle of Kosovar Catholicism.

Albanian above all

While apostasy can have serious consequences in more conservative Islamic societies, conversions have not caused major social unrest in Kosovo to date.

"Kosovo can serve as an example because its citizens show that peaceful coexistence between two religions is possible in today's world," said Lekë Musolli, director of Radio Alba.

The leading group of the Islamic community of Kosovo agrees with this.

"Faith and religion should not be politicized or divisive", says a statement of the Islamic Community of Kosovo (BIK).

"We are not subject to conflict, on the contrary, we have common problems, challenges and projects.

The lack of separation is no surprise to many in Kosovo, where ethnicity has long trumped religion.

"The religion of Albanians is Albanianism", says a common expression.

In the church of Saint Abraham in Drenica, the double-headed eagle of the Albanian flag appears both on the church bell and on its altar.

"Some had accused us of abandoning our nationality when we converted," said Sopi, while showing the flags.

"We wanted to show that nothing had changed, that we kept our national identity.

*Albanian translation: Politiko.al