For the second time …
AdVaticanum
The audience took place in the Hall of Popes and included around 40 members of the cardinal’s family. It marked the second notable encounter between the two men in recent weeks, following the Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi blessing on April 5, when Cardinal Simoni stood alongside the cardinal protodeacon during the papal appearance from the central loggia of St Peter’s Basilica.
Speaking afterwards to Vatican Media, Cardinal Simoni described the meeting in direct and emphatic terms. “All joy, all hope,” he said, describing the atmosphere of the encounter. He added: “It was an atmosphere of all joy, all hope, gazing upon the face of the Holy Father, which represents the face of Jesus, to proclaim to all men the news of Heaven, of peace, of brotherhood and of love for all the peoples of the world.”
“Let us proclaim together for all the peoples of the world the peace that comes from Heaven,” Cardinal Simoni said.
At the conclusion of the audience, Cardinal Simoni presented Pope Leo with a gift connected to the history of Catholic persecution in Albania. “Coming to Italy from Albania, my thoughts are with the martyrs,” he said, before offering “the cross and a relic of the Albanian martyrs who gave their lives for fidelity, for the love of Jesus, for the salvation of the Albanian people, to see all men smile upon Heaven”.
A priest of the Archdiocese of Shkodra-Pult, he marked the 70th anniversary of his ordination earlier this month, on April 7, a milestone reached after a lifetime marked by persecution under Albania’s communist regime.
Arrested on Christmas Eve 1963 for celebrating a Mass deemed illegal by the authorities, he was initially sentenced to death before the penalty was commuted to 25 years of forced labour.
Released in 1981, he remained under suspicion and was still regarded by the regime as an “enemy of the people” until the collapse of communism in 1990 allowed him to resume public ministry. His testimony later came to wider attention during the papal visit to Albania in 2014, when Pope Francis listened to his account and referred to him as a “living martyr”. Two years later, he was created a cardinal in recognition of that witness.
Despite his age, Cardinal Simoni has remained active in maintaining links with communities attached to the Traditional Latin Mass. He is a defender of the older liturgical form and has longstanding associations with traditionalist institutes, including regular visits to the International Seminary of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest at Gricigliano, near Florence. He has been present there for major liturgical celebrations, including the Feast of St Joseph, and has spent periods such as Holy Week with the community in recent years.
During a Pontifical Latin Mass for the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage celebrated by Cardinal Raymond Burke in St Peter’s Basilica on October 25, 2025, Cardinal Simoni recited the prayer to St Michael the Archangel, describing it as a reminder that “the Devil exists, and the Church continues to fight”.
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