Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young has hailed Pope Fran­cis as a great and hum­ble leader.

The head of the Ro­man Catholic Church died on East­er Mon­day morn­ing.

In a Face­book post, Young said, “He was the first Pope from the south­ern hemi­sphere and from the Amer­i­c­as hav­ing been born in Ar­genti­na.”

He added, “Pope Fran­cis fo­cused on up­lift­ing the poor and vul­ner­a­ble and in the mod­ern world was known for his de­sire for peace and the pro­mo­tion of in­ter­na­tion­al diplo­ma­cy. He ap­proached mod­ern top­ics with an open mind and was not afraid to sug­gest a need for change. He was a known ad­vo­cate for ac­tion on cli­mate change and showed gen­uine con­cern with re­gard to the treat­ment of mi­grants and of­ten called for more pro­tec­tion for mi­grants and oth­ers who found them­selves in vul­ner­a­ble cir­cum­stances.”

The Prime Min­is­ter said he joins in pray­ing as the car­di­nals meet to se­lect a new pope to head the church.