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The end of the year holidays, Veliaj brings together the communities of the Christian and Catholic faith  

The end of the year holidays, Veliaj brings together the communities of the

The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, hosted a dinner last night for the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant faith communities on the occasion of the Christmas holiday. In his welcome speech, the mayor said that the year we are leaving behind was extraordinary for Tirana.

"This year has been extraordinary for Tirana, for the way we communicate with each other, so I am glad that we have given space and attention to each of the faiths. A big house has room for everyone; as we have had a tradition with our Muslim brothers and sisters to celebrate Eid, I have deemed it necessary to have a day dedicated by the City Hall for Christian believers as well, to tell each of you how much we appreciate the work your service, your mission in our city," said Veliaj.

The Head of the Municipality underlined that, while Tirana this year as the European Youth Capital was buzzing with activities, "in the end", - said Veliaj, - "we are the ones who must come together, just like in a big family".

"This year there has been an infinity of activities for Tirana: the year of Youth, football activities, cultural and musical activities, economic activities, political activities, the EU Summit, but, at the end of the day, when all these activities end and everyone goes home, we stay here. We will be here on the 31st at the end of the year. We will be here to welcome the New Year. We will be here for all marriages, even those couples who create a new family in our churches, we will also be here for those we accompany, as they have had their journey in this world to go to eternity. We will be here for all newborns. This is our home, this is our family, these are our brothers and sisters in good times and in bad times,” he said.

Veliaj also made a call to put an end to "weapons", as he called political accusations and attacks, and to be more solidary towards each other, even in opposing camps.

"The common invitation on this day is: Do we as a nation need a great peace? For a grand truce? Lower the weapons, which are not always physical weapons. Our language is also a weapon. Weapons are our minds, when we use them against each other, to hinder each other and not to treat each other as worthy and equal, but as an adversary to be defeated. Therefore, my hope and my prayer for our city, for our nation, for our society, is really why not have Christmas every day and live every day as a big truce between the nations. Only then can we preach this message to others. It is very easy to be in solidarity with this, or with that from afar, very difficult to practice it once ourselves and then use that message for others," Veliaj concluded his speech.