The cardinal, who endured long years of imprisonment and forced labor for fidelity to Christ, met with the Pope during a private audience. He was ordained 70 years ago on April 7, 1956.
Cardinal Ernest Simoni, 97, considered a “living martyr” of the bloody communist persecution in Albania, met at the Vatican with Pope Leo XIV this week in a private audience marked by the remembrance of the testimony of faith of the persecuted Church.
According to Vatican media reports, the cardinal presented the Pontiff with a cross and a relic of the Albanian martyrs “who gave their lives out of fidelity and love for Jesus, and for the salvation of the people of Albania, so that all men may contemplate the smile of heaven,” the cardinal told the Pope.
The meeting on April 26, also attended by about 40 of the cardinal’s relatives, took place in “an atmosphere of joy and hope, gazing upon the face of the Holy Father, who represents the face of Jesus, to proclaim to all mankind the good news from heaven, of peace, of fraternity, and of love for all the peoples of the world,” Cardinal Simoni told Vatican media following the meeting.
