(LifeSiteNews) — A cardinal exorcist once imprisoned by Communists for nearly two decades recently prayed for worldwide deliverance from demonic influence whilst at a recent exorcism conference in New Jersey.
Over the past weekend, Cardinal Ernest Simoni joined fellow exorcists at the “Worldwide Exorcism Conference” hosted by John Leaps Evangelization in Newark.
Speaking with the aid of a translator, Simoni noted that his prayer of deliverance was “to release devils from people, for people suffering from cancerous tumors, and for young mothers having difficulty conceiving.”
Whilst not a formal exorcism with full rites and ceremony, Simoni’s prayer of deliverance was recited in Latin and from memory.
He was joined at the conference by other exorcists: Father John Szada, who is an exorcist of the Diocese of Harrisburg, and Monsignor John Esseff of the Diocese of Scranton.
Simoni, aged 96, is an Albanian priest who endured nearly 20 years of a prison labor camp under the Communist regime. He had first entered a Franciscan minor seminary, but after it was raided by the authorities, and the friars shot, he was expelled with the other novices.
Ordained a priest at 28 for the diocese after continuing his studies underground, Simoni was arrested by the Communist authorities just after the Midnight Mass on December 24, 1963. He had just finished offering the Mass for the repose of the soul of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
“The communists considered me to be a threat to the Party and so they tried relentlessly to have me speak ill of the Party,” Simoni explained in recent years. “They bribed some of my friends to convince me to say something against the government, but I was aware of their deception.”
The young priest was accused of conspiring against the state and sentenced to death by firing squad. He was tortured and placed in solitary confinement for three months for refusing to denounce the Catholic Church, but after those three months his death sentence was commuted to 18 years of labor in a prison camp.
Describing his interrogations, Simoni stated he was asked by judges:
‘Why did you tell the people, “you must be willing to die for Christ”?’ I told them, ‘We must forgive, love, and pray for our enemies.’
The notoriously brutal conditions of Communist labor camps led many of his fellow prisoners to die from the conditions endured there, but Simoni continued undaunted to offer Mass in Latin, having memorized the liturgy prior to his imprisonment. “A friend from the outside would smuggle in bread and wine so that we could properly celebrate the Mass,” he commented in 2017.
A prison revolt took place in 1973, and Simoni was accused of being involved – leading to another death sentence, which was again changed into prison labor.
In 1981, Simoni was released by the authorities and sent home, but their persecution did not cease. They urged him to marry and enlisted his parents to persuade him of this also, telling him that if he would only marry and abandon his priesthood then he would evade future jail terms. Simoni responded:
I’m already married to the most beautiful bride there is; I’m married to the Church.
Albania’s Communist regime persecuted priests especially, determinedly trying to eradicate the clergy, jailing or murdering nearly all.
Upon the collapse of the regime in 1991, Simoni ministered to rural Catholics, which included performing exorcisms – something which he had already been doing prior to his 1963 arrest and for which he is now more well known.
Addressing a conference of exorcists in Rome’s Regina Apostolorum University in 2018, Simoni attested that “I perform 4-5 exorcisms a day.”
Commenting on his life and priesthood, Simoni said in 2017, “We see the prophecy of Fatima revealing itself today. If the people do not turn towards Christ, darkness and error will consume the world. If we trust in God and turn towards him, we should have no fear.”
After meeting him in 2014 and hearing Simoni’s life and testimony, Pope Francis created him a cardinal in the consistory of 2016, famously praising him as a “living martyr.” Due to his age, the cardinal did not take part in the 2025 conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.
Most recently he has participated in pilgrimage events organized by Latin Mass priestly group the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, demonstrating a continued devotion to the traditional Mass which he said from memory during his prison camp years.
Simoni will continue in the series of U.S events organized by John Leaps Evangelization with a Mass on Thursday.
