He visited Mother Teresa’s memorial, saw relics of “the saint of the slums” and recited a prayer that he had personally composed. He praised God for the gift of her life and prayed for her intercession for North Macedonia.

Pope Francis is the first pope to visit North Macedonia, where Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born.

"In that Caritas center are many Christians who have learned to see with God's own eyes," Pope Francis said. "God is not worried about details but seeks out and awaits each person with a father's eyes."

Like Saint Francis, the pope said, “each of us is called to follow in his footsteps by becoming a peacemaker, an ‘artisan’ of peace.”

Even as pope, Francis considers himself a parish priest—“the world’s parish priest” as he once told a friend. This morning, he presided in a small Catholic enclave more than 100 miles from Sofia, the capital city.

The meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Neofit was only the second meeting in more than a thousand years between a pope and a Bulgarian Orthodox patriarch.