By Fabrizio Peloni
“No chain is strong enough to imprison a conscience enlightened 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.”
With these words, echoing Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans (8:35–39), Pope Leo XIV addressed a message to Albanian Cardinal Ernest Simoni and to all those who took part in the Mass the Cardinal presided over on Friday morning, Jul 31, at the former prison camp of Spaç, in remembrance of those who suffered or died there.
A site where many bore the cross of injustice
“That place, deeply engraved in the memory of the Albanian people, remains one of the most painful chapters in the nation’s history. Spaç was a place where many carried the heavy cross of injustice,” the Pope wrote in the message, which was read at the conclusion of Mass.
The Holy Father recalled that “the blood of those who suffered and died among those mountains has watered that land, making it a silent witness to fidelity, courage and hope.”
A witness to persecution under the communist regime
Cardinal Simoni, now 97, returned to the camp where he spent most of his 18 years in prison “to celebrate the Sacrifice of Christ, which transformed the Cross from a sign of death into the promise of life,” Pope Leo wrote.
The Albanian Cardinal experienced first-hand the persecution of the communist regime. Initially sentenced to death as an enemy of the people, his sentence was later commuted to imprisonment in various labour camps, where he endured years of forced labour.
“I risked my life every time I celebrated Mass”
Cardinal Simoni recalled that during his imprisonment, he celebrated Mass from memory in Latin, noting, “I risked my life each time.” He also said he heard confessions and distributed Holy Communion in secret.
Explaining that he baked the bread using flour cooked over makeshift stoves and used juice squeezed from grapes for the Eucharistic celebration, he recognized, “If they had found me, they would have hanged me immediately.”
In fact, during Friday’s Mass, the Cardinal showed those present the miner’s helmet he wore as a young priest when he was sent to work underground in the mines.
The Pope’s prayer for those buried in unmarked graves
Reflecting on those years of persecution, Pope Leo wrote, “Who knows how many prayers rose to Heaven from that place? How many supplications were whispered in silence? How many faces, marked by hardship and deprivation, entrusted their final hope to the Lord?”
The Pope joined in prayer for each of those men and women, many of whom were buried in unmarked graves, where no one was able to mourn them or lay a flower in their memory.
He prayed that “their memory may remain alive and serve as a constant reminder to new generations of the inviolable dignity of every human person, the value of freedom, and the commitment to peace.” – Vatican News
