Arch­bish­op Charles Ja­son Gor­don has de­scribed the pass­ing of Pope Fran­cis as “a pro­found loss for the Church and the world,” mourn­ing a man he called “a true shep­herd” and “a faith­ful dis­ci­ple of Christ.”

The Arch­bish­op re­spond­ed to news of the Pope’s death with deep sor­row. “We have lost a man of in­com­pa­ra­ble depth and un­wa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to Christ,” he said. “He kept the joy of the Gospel alive in our hearts, even as he called us to deep­er love—with­in our fam­i­lies, for our com­mon home, for the poor and mar­gin­alised, and for one an­oth­er across every di­vi­sion.”

Pope Fran­cis, Bish­op of Rome and Supreme Pon­tiff of the Catholic Church, led with courage through what Arch­bish­op Gor­don called “one of the most chal­leng­ing and com­plex pe­ri­ods of hu­man his­to­ry.”

“He made syn­odal­i­ty con­sti­tu­tive of the Church’s very iden­ti­ty,” the Arch­bish­op said. “Through his life, his min­istry, and his coura­geous wit­ness, he called the Church to be­come ever more a field hos­pi­tal of mer­cy and a sacra­ment—a sign of hope in the world.”

Arch­bish­op Gor­don ex­pressed pro­found grat­i­tude for the Pope’s lead­er­ship. “We give thanks to God for the gift of his pa­pa­cy, for his ex­am­ple of hu­mil­i­ty and strength, and for his un­wa­ver­ing de­vo­tion to the Gospel of Je­sus Christ.”

“Well done, good and faith­ful ser­vant,” he added, quot­ing Scrip­ture in trib­ute.

The Arch­dio­cese will an­nounce plans soon for a memo­r­i­al litur­gy to cel­e­brate Pope Fran­cis’s life.