With tears in his eyes, Pope Francis gave a warm embrace
to Father Ernest Troshani Simoni, 84, one of the last
survivors of the terrible Communist persecution in Albania.
During his visit to Tirana, Albania, on Sept. 21, Pope
Francis met with priests, religious, seminarians and
members of ecclesial lay movements at the Cathedral of St.
Paul, where he listened attentively to Fr. Simoni's
testimony.
The priest told of how he was imprisoned in inhumane
conditions because of his fidelity to the Church and to the
Successor of Peter, before winning freedom from a death
sentence.
He recounted that in December 1944, an atheistic
Communist regime came to power in Albania and sought to
eliminate the faith and the clergy with “arrests, torture and
killings of priests and lay people for seven straight years,
shedding the blood of the faithful, some of who shouted,
'Long live Christ the King,' as they were shot.”
In 1952, Communist leaders gathered together the priests
that had survived and offered them freedom if they distanced
themselves from the Pope and the Vatican, which they
refused to do.
Fr. Simoni said that before he was ordained, he studied with
the Franciscans for 10 years, from 1938 to 1948, and when
his superiors were shot by Communists, he continued his
studies in secret.
“Two terrible years passed, and on April 7, 1965, I was
ordained a priest, the day after Easter, and on the feast of
Divine Mercy, I celebrated my first Mass,” he recalled.
On Dec. 14, 1963, as he was concluding Christmas Eve
Mass, four officials served him an arrest warrant and decree
of execution. He was handcuffed and detained. During
interrogation, they told him he would hanged as an enemy
because he told the people, “We will all die for Christ if
necessary.”
He suffered immense torturing, but said that “the Lord
wanted me to keep living.”
“Divine Providence willed that my death sentence not be
carried out right away. They brought another prisoner into
the room, a dear friend of mine, in order to spy on me. He
began to speak out against the party,” Fr. Simoni recalled.
“I responded anyway that Christ had taught us to love our
enemies and to forgive them and that we should strive to
seek the good of the people. Those words reached the ears
of the dictator who, a few days later, freed me from my
death sentence,” he explained.
The priest was given 28 years of forced labor instead,
during which time he celebrated Mass, heard confessions
and distributed Communion in secret.
Fr. Simoni was released only when the Communist regime
fell and freedom of religion was recognized.
“The Lord has helped me to serve so many peoples and to
reconcile many, driving out hatred and the devil from the
hearts of men,” he said.
“Your Holiness, with the certainty that I am expressing the
intentions of those present, I pray through the intercession
of the most holy Mother of Christ, that the Lord grant you
life, health and strength in guiding the great flock that is the
Church of Christ, Amen.”
After concluding his remarks, a visibly moved Pope Francis
dried the tears in his own eyes and embraced the Albanian
priest.

Atheist are more evil and wicked than the muslims

2cato: Atheist are more evil and wicked than the muslims

Let's not judge dem bro.. Rather let's pray for them to see reasons why they should love God...

2cato: Atheist are more evil and wicked than the muslims

can your proove your claim?

May God give us the grace of being faithful to Him. The expression of the dying christians is something 2 ponder 'LONG LIVE CHRIST THE KING'. How many of us can be this faithful

The Vatican did the worst in the past by killing many hundreds of million of believers in Christ in dark ages, Pretenders and hypocrites.