97-Year-Old Cardinal Returns to Former Albanian Prison Camp to Honour Victims of Communist Rule
At the age of 97, Cardinal Ernest Simoni has returned to the former prison camp in Albania where he spent years as a prisoner of the communist regime, celebrating a public Mass in memory of those who suffered and lost their lives there.
The Mass was held on July 31 at Spaç, a notorious forced-labour camp built in 1968 around a copper and pyrite mine in central Albania. The camp was considered one of the harshest detention facilities operated by Albania’s communist government, and Simoni spent much of his 18-year imprisonment there as a young priest.
During the ceremony, a letter from Pope Leo XIV was read, honouring Cardinal Simoni and the countless prisoners whose stories were never fully told.
“No chain is strong enough to imprison a conscience illuminated by the Gospel, no night is so long that it can prevent the dawn the Lord prepares for his children, and no prison is deep enough to separate a person from the love of God,” the Pope wrote.
Pope Leo described Spaç as one of the darkest chapters in Albania’s history, where many people endured injustice, suffering and persecution.
He said the sacrifices of those who suffered there had turned the site into a symbol of courage, faith and hope.
“How many prayers must have risen to Heaven from that place? How many people, marked by suffering and deprivation, entrusted their last hope to God?” the Pope wrote.
The Pope praised Simoni’s return to the camp, describing it as a powerful reminder of how faith can transform suffering into a message of hope.
Cardinal Simoni was arrested on Christmas Eve in 1963 by the communist government of Enver Hoxha after celebrating Mass for the soul of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated weeks earlier.
He spent 18 years in prison before his release in 1981. Even after his release, authorities continued to label him an “enemy of the people,” forcing him into hard labour until the fall of the communist regime in 1990.
Throughout his imprisonment, Simoni secretly continued his priestly ministry among fellow prisoners. He celebrated Mass from memory in Latin, heard confessions and distributed Communion despite the risk of severe punishment.
“I risked my life each time,” he said, recalling his secret ministry inside the prison.
The cardinal explained that he made bread using basic equipment and used grape juice instead of wine for the Eucharist.
“If they had found me, they would have hanged me immediately,” he said.
During the Mass at Spaç, Simoni displayed the miner’s helmet he wore while working underground as a prisoner.
Pope Francis elevated Simoni to the College of Cardinals in 2016, recognising him as a symbol of the strength of faith under persecution.
In his message, Pope Leo XIV urged that the memory of Spaç and those who suffered there should not disappear with the passing of survivors.
He called on future generations to remember the importance of human dignity, freedom and peace.
