Kurti commemorates Mother Teresa’s 116th birth anniversary in Skopje: She saw the person, not the millions

The acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, attended a ceremony in Skopje dedicated to the 116th anniversary of the birth of Mother Teresa, Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu.

During his speech, Kurti said that participants had gathered in Skopje to commemorate one of the best-known Albanian figures of the 20th century.

Describing her journey, he recalled that Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, while her family origins were linked to Prizren and Gjakova. According to Kurti, she felt the call in Letnica, began preparing for her mission in Ireland and later devoted her entire life to service in India.

Kurti emphasized that her work was not limited to a single nation, faith or state. He stressed that Mother Teresa’s universal dimension did not deny her origins, but broadened them.

The acting Prime Minister also mentioned her being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. He said that, when accepting the award, Mother Teresa did not present peace as a distant idea, but as something that begins with the individual, with caring for others and respecting everyone’s dignity.

According to Kurti, international recognition and the Nobel Prize were not the only reasons that made her a universal figure. Mother Teresa achieved this stature by standing beside the individual: while the world saw millions of people, she recognized one person; when the world discussed poverty, she approached the poor person. It was precisely through this closeness, he added, that she built a body of work that transcended racial, religious, national and state borders.