Monsignor Arjan Dodaj's message on the loss of Pope Francis: Let's pray for his soul. He wanted to return to Albania

The head of the Albanian Catholic Church, Archbishop Arjan Dodaj, in a message of condolence for the loss of Pope Francis, said that the Pope was a voice that conveyed a force of divine comfort.

Bishop Dodaj, among other things, emphasized that we should be grateful to God for Pope Francis because he has been the Pope of closeness and peace.

Dodaj emphasized that the Pope loved our country very much while also revealing his desire to return to Albania.

"Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends, dear Catholic believers, today as you have heard, Pope Francis has returned to his father's house. This news has marked the heart and soul of each of us with sadness. It has been the only voice that conveyed a force of divine consolation and has touched us even more deeply, but in the spirit of the risen Christ, faced with the sadness of physical separation from this connection with him, we are comforted with the strength of the risen one. The Lord has wanted to call him to a jubilee year, a jubilee year of hope.

So let us be grateful to God for this Pope who has been the Pope of closeness, the Pope who courageously spoke about a Third World War 10 years ago. The Pope who gave voice to those situations that would never have had a voice. The Pope who loved our country by privileging it in front of all other Western countries and by coming here precisely to Mother Teresa Square to give voice to this persecuted, martyred people and saying that the history of this nation had marked so much that in every meeting he remembered our country and his visit with kindness and how many times he has told me personally 'I want to return to Albania'. The Pope who loved our martyrs, who loved Mother Teresa so much. The Pope who will always remain with his sweet gaze and his spiritual strength a guide in a world that even more needs to discover the voice of God's love", said Archbishop Dodaj.

Pope Francis passed away this morning, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 as the 226th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elected leader of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican on March 13, 2013, the first Jesuit and Latin American pope.