nizations.

Even before the adoption of the Constitution, however, legislative
measures had already been taken to curb the freedom and power of all
religious bodies. For example, the agrarian reform law of August 1945
made special provision for the confiscation of all their wealth,
especially the estates of monasteries, orders, and dioceses, and the
seizure of their libraries and printing presses. But the first major law
aimed specifically at the control and regulation of all religious bodies
and at the elimination of all distinguished clergymen was enacted two
years after the promulgation of the Constitution. This law is known as
Decree No. 743 On Religious Communities, approved by the Council of
Ministers on November 26, 1949, converted into Law No. 773 on January
16, 1950, and amended by Decree No. 3660 of April 10, 1963.

The law provided that religious communities through their activities had
to develop in their followers a sentiment of loyalty toward the People's
Republic of Albania. In order to organize and function, religious
communities had to be recognized by the state, such recognition taking
place as a result of the approval of their statutes by the Council of
Ministers. All regulations and bylaws issued on the basis of such
statutes had also to be approved by the Council of Ministers, and the
heads of religious communities and sects had to be approved by the
Council of Ministers after being elected or appointed by the proper
religious organs. Religious communities or branches, such as the Jesuit
and Franciscan orders, that had their headquarters outside the country
were henceforth prohibited and ordered to terminate their activities
within a month of the enactment of the decree.

All religious communities were obliged to send at once to the Council of
Ministers all pastoral letters, messages, speeches, and other
instructions of a general character that were to be made public in any
form. Religious institutions were forbidden to have anything to do with
the education of the young since this was the exclusive right of the
state, and all religious communities were prohibited from operating
philanthropic and welfare institutions and hospitals or from owning real
estate.

On the basis of Decree No. 743 the Council of Ministers on May 4, 1950,
issued Decrees Nos. 1064, 1065, and 1066, approving respectively the
statutes of the Sunni, Orthodox, and Bektashi religious communities. A
common provision of all thre