In November 2016, among the 17 prelates that Pope Francis chose as new cardinals, there was an unknown priest who was neither a bishop, nor eligible to be elected as Pope. He was 88-year old Father Ernest Troshani Simoni of the Archdiocese of Shkodrë-Pult in Albania. It was a symbolic appointment to honor the suffering of Albanian Catholics under communism, and to promote their valiant courage in the small Balkan country with 2,7 million people. Catholics number 20% who suffered under their ruler Enver Hoxha, who came to power in 1944 until his death in 1985 and sought to fiercely reassert his country’s independence. Religion was a primary foe of his regime. In 1967 Albania became the world’s first atheistic state. Torture, imprisonment, exile and murder were common instruments of the communist regime. Many died as martyrs and were beatified on November 5, 2016 and among them were two bishops, 21 diocesan priests, seven Franciscans, three Jesuits, one seminarian and four laity. These martyrs were subject to inhumane torture and the most cruel indignities before their death. Cardinal Simoni was ordained a priest on April 7, 1956, and on Christmas Eve 1963, a warrant was issued for his arrest. After three months of intense interrogation, the court sentenced him to 18 years of intense labor in the coal mines of Spaç. His initial sentence was death by firing squad, but, by the grace of God, he survived. In 1981, he was released from prison and sent back home. What followed in Albania was complete religious harmony between the Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims. Communism has been completely eradicated. Cardinal Simoni was visited by Pope Francis, and recently he visited Pope Leo at the Vatican. He can very well be referred to as a true living martyr.
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