Dear Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj, the Chairman of Interreligious Council of Albania

Dear H. Bujar Spahiu, Chair of the Muslim Community of Albania

Dear His Beatitude Joan, Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and All Albania, Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania 

Dear Mons. Gjergj Meta, President of the Episcopal Conference of Albania, Catholic Church in Albania

Dear Pastor Erion Sylari, Chair of the Evangelical Alliance of Albania

Dear Mr. Klodian Bulku, Chairman of the State Committee on Cults

Dear Mrs. Deepika Singh, Deputy Secretary General of Religions for Peace International,

Representatives of Religions for Peace Europe

Honourable representatives of public institutions, civil society, academia and the media,

Dear colleagues, friends and guests from across Europe,

Good morning, and welcome to Tirana!

It is a great honour and a profound joy to welcome you to the European Interfaith Forum on Shared Sacred Flourishing, taking place for the first time here in Albania.

Today, Albania is not only hosting a European interreligious gathering. It is opening its doors to a shared process of reflection, learning and action that brings together representatives from different religious traditions and countries around one essential question:

How can our faith communities work together so that every person, every society and our shared Earth may truly flourish?

On behalf of Religions for Peace Europe, the European National Interreligious Bodies, and the Interreligious Council of Albania, I extend our heartfelt welcome and appreciation to all of you.

Our identity continues to be expressed through a simple but powerful principle:

Different Faiths – Common Action

This means that we do not need to abandon our differences in order to cooperate. On the contrary, we bring the deepest values of our respective traditions into a shared space of responsibility and service.

Dear friends,

The Albanian experience is not perfect, nor should it be idealised. Religious harmony must never be taken for granted. It must be protected, nurtured and transmitted to each new generation.

But our experience offers an important lesson: Religious diversity does not have to produce division. When it is accompanied by mutual respect, responsible leadership and institutional cooperation, it can become a source of social strength.

Our topic: Sharing Sacred Flourishing provides a respectful meeting place where people from different traditions may stand together without abandoning their respective identities.

It is not a new religion. It is not a blending of traditions. It is not a lowest-common-denominator compromise.

We do not stand together because we are identical. We stand together in our differences.

During these days, representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Spain will participate in training, dialogue, study visits and practical exercises.

We will explore how Shared Sacred Flourishing can be translated into action at local, national and European levels.

Participants will return to their countries, councils and communities better prepared to organise national consultations, engage public institutions and civil society, involve women and young people and design concrete responses to the challenges affecting their societies.

This gathering in Tirana must be the beginning of a broader European process.

Europe needs religious communities that do not retreat into isolation but engage constructively in public life.

Europe needs religious leaders who speak clearly and courageously against hatred, violence, discrimination and every attack on human dignity.

Europe needs women and young people not only as guests or participants, but as leaders, trainers and decision-makers.

Europe needs national interreligious councils that are strong, representative and capable of transforming dialogue into sustained action.

And Europe needs closer cooperation between faith communities, public institutions, academia, civil society and the media.

Dear colleagues and friends,

Let us use these days to listen deeply to one another.

Let us speak honestly about our challenges.

Let us share not only our achievements but also our difficulties and failures.

Let us learn from the formal sessions, but also from our conversations, our visits, our meals and our moments of reflection.

May this gathering help us move from coexistence to cooperation; from dialogue to shared service; from fragmented initiatives to coordinated action; and from fear of difference to trust in our shared humanity.

May we leave Tirana with stronger relationships, renewed hope and concrete commitments for our countries and communities.

Let us work so that religious diversity becomes not a reason for separation, but a source of wisdom, solidarity and service.

Let us build societies in which every person is respected, every community can contribute, and the Earth is cared for as our shared home.

And let us remember that the flourishing of the other is not a threat to our own flourishing. It is an essential condition for it.

Once again, welcome to Albania. And welcome to this shared European journey towards Shared Sacred Flourishing.

Thank you!