Twenty guards of Enver Hoxha's grave ended up in Psychiatry: We heard noises, screams, screams...!?

On the day of Mother Teresa's consecration, some English media brought back to attention the criticisms made against her, especially by the British Christopher Hitchens. Among these criticisms is that she has supported totalitarian regimes, highlighting the visit to Enver Hoxha's grave. But what is the truth of this visit?

The priest who prepared the occasion for Mother Teresa's consecration says that she was sent to the grave without her knowledge, as that was the protocol of the time. But a Catholic online news site has another theory.

Alessandra Nucci from "Catholic World Report" writes that Albanian writer Marcel Hila has narrated the previously untold story of Mother Teresa's visit.

It all starts in September 1985, when Hila was an unarmed soldier in the communist regime - the last rank in the Albanian army, where those who were considered dangerous for the communist regime were placed.

Enver Hoxha had died and one day a young soldier arrived in their department, sitting in a position. He had previously served in the Guard of the Republic.

"We were afraid that he was a spy," says Hila.

However, one day the soldier from the Republic Guard confessed to him the real reason why he had been demoted.

"We guarded Enver's grave. You have no idea what it's like there at night. You hear noises, screams, screams, the ground shakes under your feet, it seems as if groans are coming from the abyss. It's a torture. Over 20 people from our unit have ended up in psychiatry. By coming here, I escaped from all that. Of course I work more, but at least I don't hear that hell," he said.

Four years later, in August 1989, Mother Teresa, accompanied by the dictator's widow, arrived at Enver's grave. Four years later, in 1993, Hila says she heard more about this story from Dom Lush Gjergji, a priest from Kosovo who accompanied Mother Teresa on her trip to Albania. He says that Mother Teresa was invited by Nexhmije who hoped that her intercession could eradicate the supernatural phenomena that had plagued her husband's grave. After arriving at Hoxha's grave, Mother Teresa prayed for some time. She was then allowed to visit the graves of her mother and sister, who had died in 1971, but she was not allowed to see them.

Were Mother Teresa's prayers answered? Did the terrible phenomenon disappear in the dictator's grave?

It seems so. Hila says that since then everything has been quiet there!