EPISCOPAL CONDOLENCE ON THE PASSING OF POPE FRANCIS, BISHOP OF ROME

To the College of Cardinals, the Clergy and Faithful of the Church of Rome,

It is with solemn prayer and fraternal sorrow that we extend our heartfelt condolences on the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome and Primate of the Latin Church. In this hour of mourning, we unite our hearts with yours in grief, and commend the soul of your shepherd to the mercy of Almighty God, the Judge of all the earth, who is rich in compassion and not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and life everlasting.

We remember Pope Francis as a man of faith and a desire for humility, whose earthly pilgrimage was marked by efforts to lift up the poor, to comfort the afflicted, and to bring the language of mercy into the public square of a suffering world. We pray that the Lord, who searches the hearts of men, will receive what was truly offered in love and simplicity to His glory.

As bishops in the Orthodox tradition, heirs to the conciliar process that once united East and West in the undivided Church of the first millennium, our synod continues to hope and labor for the restoration of that ancient unity - not through jurisdictional supremacy or doctrinal innovation, but through the shared repentance, mutual recognition, and return to the catholic fullness of the faith once delivered to the saints.

May the repose of Pope Francis continue to mark a turning of the Roman Church back to the synodal wisdom of the Fathers, to the holy canons of the Seven Councils, and to the Eucharistic communion which neither flatters men nor exalts thrones, but glorifies Christ alone.

In the hope of the Resurrection, we pray:

O God of spirits and of all flesh, who hast trampled down death and overthrown the devil, and given life unto thy world: do thou, the same Lord, give rest to the soul of thy servant Francis, departed this life, in a place of light, in a place of refreshment, in a place of peace, where all sickness, sorrow, and sighing have fled away. And make his memory to be eternal.

Memory eternal. Kyrie eleison. Memory eternal! 

Christ is Risen! 

Given under our hand and seal this 21st day of April, in the Year of our Lord AD 2025. 

+ Joseph

Bishop of Missionary Diocese of East and Southeast Asia