The Albanian Bektashi Teqeja in Detroit, United States, founded in 1954, has published on its portal an announcement about the visit that a delegation made, a few days ago, to the Vatican, where they met with Pope Francis and other officials. of the Vatican.

In its announcement, Teqeja de Detroit says that, “On October 26, we had the opportunity to pay an official visit to Pope Francis in Vatican City. This visit was made thanks to an invitation from the Vatican Entity that deals with interreligious relations”. According to the announcement, the invitation was addressed to the Honorable Dervish Eliton, the leader of the First Albanian Bektashi Council in the United States of America.

In the announcement of the Albanian Bektashi Center in Detroit, it is emphasized that the ceremony of the visit to the Vatican was a source of hope for all Bektashi around the world, but also a first step forward in the relations between the Vatican and the Bektashi in America.

In the statement, it is further stated that among the issues that were discussed, among others, between representatives of the Albanian-American Bektashism and Vatican officials, were the commonalities that bind Muslims and Christians.

Dervish Eliton is quoted as having said during the meeting with Pope Francis that, “Muslims and Christians have more things in common than differences between them and that it is the commonalities that we should focus on.”

At the end of the announcement of the Detroit Bektashi Teqeja, it was pointed out that the meeting of its representatives with Pope Francis and other Vatican officials marked the first event from the future program of events that the Teqeja plans to organize, in order to spread the message of peace, love, and respect around the world.