The present cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Skopje, seat of the Catholic diocese of Skopje, was built between 1973 and 1977. It is attributed to the Macedonian architect Blagoja Mickovski, although a secondary source also names a second architect, Slavko Gjurić, with a slight discrepancy in the names between the sources. No liturgical consecration date distinct from the completion of the works is documented, nor any specific architectural style attributed with certainty. The building stands on a different site from the original church of the Sacred Heart, destroyed by the devastating Skopje earthquake of 1963. It was in that earlier church, and not in the building of today, that Mother Teresa, born in Skopje on 26 August 1910, was baptised the following day, on 27 August 1910. The site of the original church today holds the Memorial House of Mother Teresa, opened on 30 January 2009. According to the official site of the memorial house, as a girl she attended the parish school of the Sacred Heart, sang in the parish choir, sometimes as a soloist, played the mandolin, acted in the parish theatre and was a member of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in a parish run by the Jesuits. Father Franjo Jamrekovic is credited with an influence on her missionary vocation, through the public reading of letters from missionaries. She left Skopje in 1928, at eighteen, to enter the Loreto sisters. The diocese of Skopje, heir to the ancient archdiocese of Dardania going back to the 4th century, was reduced to a diocese on 29 October 1924, merged into the diocese of Skopje-Prizren in 1969 and separated again on 24 May 2000. The present bishop is Kiro Stojanov, in office since 20 July 2005. Catholics in North Macedonia are a very small minority: the census of 2021 records 6,746 of them nationally, about 0.3 per cent of the population, in a country with an Orthodox majority (46.1 per cent) and a sizeable Muslim minority (32.2 per cent). On 7 May 2019 Pope Francis became the first pope to visit North Macedonia, going to the Memorial House of Mother Teresa and, according to the Catholic press, also to this cathedral, where he met priests, religious and their families.
About the Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, seat of the Diocese of Skopje, was rebuilt 1973–1977 on a different site from the original Sacred Heart church destroyed in the 1963 Skopje earthquake — the same parish where Mother Teresa was baptized in 1910.
Key facts
- 27 August 1910: Mother Teresa baptized at the original Sacred Heart of Jesus church, since destroyed.
- 1963: the original church destroyed in the catastrophic Skopje earthquake.
- 1973–1977: present cathedral built on a different site, attributed to architect Blagoja Mickovski.
- 29 October 1924: Catholic jurisdiction in Skopje downgraded to a diocese.
- 30 January 2009: Memorial House of Mother Teresa opens on the original church’s former site.
- 7 May 2019: Pope Francis, the first pope to visit North Macedonia, visits the Mother Teresa memorial and, per Catholic press coverage, this cathedral.
History
The parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus baptized the infant Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu — later Mother Teresa — the day after her birth in 1910, and she remained active in its school, choir and youth groups until leaving Skopje at eighteen. The original church building did not survive the 1963 earthquake that devastated the city; its former site now holds a museum to her memory, while the parish itself continued under the same dedication in a new cathedral built a decade later, a building Pope Francis is reported to have visited during his historic 2019 trip, the first ever by a pope to North Macedonia.
What you see
A modernist structure of curved concrete “wing” pylons meets at a tall cross above a glazed vertical nave window, beneath a dark, sail-shaped roof, with a separate bell tower and a freestanding metal cross beside the entrance.
Practical information
- Opening hours: generally open daily outside services; check current hours before visiting.
- Address: Skopje, North Macedonia (exact street address not independently confirmed).
Getting there
The cathedral stands in central Skopje. GPS: 41°59′41″N, 21°25′04″E.
Nearby
- Memorial House of Mother Teresa — a museum on the site of the original Sacred Heart church where she was baptized, elsewhere in central Skopje.
Sources
- Wikipedia — “Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Skopje),” “Roman Catholic Diocese of Skopje,” “Mother Teresa,” “Memorial House of Mother Teresa,” “Religion in North Macedonia”
- GCatholic.org and Catholic-Hierarchy.org — Diocese of Skopje records.
- Memorial House of Mother Teresa (official site) — her baptism and childhood parish involvement.
- Catholic News Agency, America Magazine — coverage of Pope Francis’s 2019 visit to North Macedonia.
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