Original article (in Albanian) was published on 04/06/2025; Author: Barbara Halla
At the end of May, several Albanian-speaking portals published articles claiming that Pope Leo XIV had decided not to recognize Kosovo’s independence. The headlines shared on social media suggested that the Pope had made a new declaration reaffirming the Vatican’s position against Kosovo’s independence. However, this is a distortion of facts, as the Pope has not issued any new statements concerning Kosovo.
As noted by fact-checkers at Hibrid.info, Albanian-language portals have misinterpreted and misleadingly presented a news article published on May 20 by Vatican News. Vatican News is the official website of the Vatican and the Catholic Church in the Vatican. The announcement was about the Pope appointing Archbishop Luigi Bianco as Apostolic Nuncio to Slovenia and Apostolic Delegate to Kosovo.
As Apostolic Nuncio to Slovenia, Bianco will serve as the Vatican State’s ambassador to Slovenia, engaging with the country’s government. However, as Encyclopedia Britannica explains, the role of Apostolic Delegate is that of a ‘representative of the Vatican without diplomatic status and therefore without authority to interact with civil governments’. This means the Apostolic Delegate focuses on church duties and does not maintain diplomatic relations with the local government, since the Vatican does not have formal diplomatic ties with Kosovo.
The article from Vatican News mentions that the Vatican does not recognize Kosovo’s independence. Since 2008, the Vatican has decided not to recognize Kosovo’s independence in order to maintain good governmental relations with Serbia, especially with the Serbian Orthodox Church.
However, the article does not include any new statement from Pope Leo XIV, nor has there been any other declaration from the Pope or the Vatican on the Kosovo issue. In fact, the Albanian-language articles note that this is a continuation of an existing policy rather than a change in the Vatican’s position. Therefore, the headline ‘We do not recognize Kosovo’ does not stem from a statement by Leo, but is an interpretation of Bianco’s appointment as Apostolic Delegate.
