the pope's visit to mongolia

Advertisement

Supported by

In Visit to Tiny Flock in Mongolia, Pope Has an Eye on Russia and China

The pontiff arrived Friday on a trip that the Vatican said was meant to encourage the fewer than 1,500 Catholics there. But it also brings him close to two great powers that have vexed him.

• Share full article

By Jason Horowitz

Reporting from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Pope Francis has long expressed a desire to visit Russia and China in hopes of healing the church’s historical rifts and ensuring the faith’s future in the populous East. On Friday, he came very close, landing in Mongolia, a country sandwiched between the two geopolitical giants, with a minuscule Catholic population that no pope has visited before.

“The inhabitants are few,” Francis acknowledged in brief remarks on the plane to Mongolia. But the country, which at times seems so vast as not to end, is also a place where the “culture is great,” he said.

On Sunday, he called the trip a “much-desired visit which will be an opportunity to embrace a church that is small in number, but vibrant in faith and great in charity.”

But many observers in and out of the church are wondering why Francis, who is 86 and often uses a wheelchair, traveled more than 5,000 miles to visit fewer than 1,500 Catholics, in a geographically vast nation where a good chunk of the largely nomadic population of 3.3 million knows very little about him, according to a pollster.

The answer, the Vatican has said, is that Mongolia, like other far-flung places Francis has visited, speaks to his priorities for the direction he wants to take the church, and his mission to improve cooperation and dialogue among the world’s religions. Francis also has ambitions to be heard on the secular stage, and by two world powers with which he has rocky relations, at a time of great upheaval.

The Vatican says the principal reason for the visit is to encourage the tiny community of Catholics, in keeping with his emphasis on drawing attention to the church’s peripheries.

More than 40 percent of Mongolians say they have no religious identity, according to census data . Of those who say they are religious, some 87 percent say they are Buddhist. About 5 percent are Muslim, 4 percent identify as adherents of shamanism and barely 2 percent are Christians.

Last year, Francis stunned many in the Vatican by elevating an Italian missionary in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, who has been in Mongolia for decades, to the exalted status of cardinal, and gave him a coveted spot in the Vatican’s powerful office for evangelization.

“It has been a gradual and slow growth,” the cardinal, Giorgio Marengo, 49, said, describing his experience in Mongolia. It has not, he said, been “very sudden or significant in a way in terms of numbers, but a constant little growth.”

But the numbers are still exceptionally small, and as a result, there appears to be less than the usual buzz over a papal visit.

“Nobody actually is talking about the pope,” said Sumati Luvsandendev, a leading Mongolian political analyst and opinion pollster.

Beyond meeting members of the small Mongolian church, Francis will also use a gathering with representatives from Mongolia’s mix of faiths to further his mission of interreligious tolerance.

Ulaanbaatar, which is heavily polluted and increasingly crowded because of internal displacement, will provide an opportunity for him to touch on the themes of migration and the environment that are core to his pontificate.

Mongolia’s suffering from climate change, exploitation by mining interests and even overproduction of cashmere by pasture-decimating goats will allow him to amplify his cry to protect the environment, in a nation where eagles and horses are core to the national identity, and where livestock outnumber people by about 20 to one.

The four-day visit to what Francis called the “heart of Asia” began at Chinggis Khaan International Airport, where he received a welcome gift of dried yogurt instead of the customary gift horse — sometimes symbolic, sometimes real — given to visiting dignitaries. He was met on the tarmac by soldiers in red and blue uniforms and gold helmets, then wheeled into a Hyundai flying a Vatican flag, which took him to the residence of the head of the local church, where he will stay.

The pope’s visit will include meetings with Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai and other authorities, Catholic charity groups and local clergy. But it also brings Francis close to the two neighboring leaders, President Vladimir V. Putin in Russia and President Xi Jinping in China, who have vexed his ambitions in and out of the church.

In 2018, Francis, seeking more access to China, made a largely secretive deal with the government to ensure more collaboration over the nomination of bishops. The pope typically appoints bishops, but the Communist government has long insisted on naming its own to more closely control the state-run church there.

Conservatives and advocates for human rights protested the Vatican’s decision to acknowledge some of those bishops and, they say, legitimize the practice — though the deal, designed to narrow the divide between the state- and Rome-led churches, recognized Francis as the leader of the church and gave him an important role in the process.

Some accused the pontiff of selling out religious liberty and China’s long-suffering underground church, which does not recognize the state-appointed bishops. But the Vatican argued that the deal was worth it given the longer-term goal of more dialogue and a greater church presence in China.

Since then, China has only strained relations by continuing to crack down on religious minorities, and it has consistently violated the spirit of the agreement by unilaterally appointing bishops. It is unclear whether Chinese Catholics will cross the border with Mongolia to hear or even meet the pope during the visit.

Some experts suggest that the Vatican hopes that Mongolia, because of its location and close economic and political ties to China, could act as an intermediary to improve relations. In his flight to Mongolia, Francis passed over Chinese airspace, allowing him to send a customary telegram of greetings to Mr. Xi, a rare direct communication between them.

Mongolia’s neighbor to the north, Russia, has proved even more nettlesome. At the beginning of his pontificate, Francis pursued steps to reconcile a more than 1,000-year schism between the Eastern and Western church by meeting in Cuba with Patriarch Kirill I, the leader of the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church.

But Russia’s war in Ukraine has blown up that effort, and vexed Francis, who has chastised Kirill as being the “altar boy” of Mr. Putin.

Francis’ lingering ambitions to keep the dream of reconciliation alive, experts say, has led to some awkward moments of softening and kind words for Russia. The latest came in recent days, when in comments made by video to Catholic youth in St. Petersburg, Francis praised 18th century Russian rulers and the Great Russia they helped create — an empire that Mr. Putin has invoked in framing his invasion of Ukraine.

“Never forget the legacy,” Francis said. “You are the heirs of Great Russia: Great Russia of saints, rulers, Great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire — great, enlightened, of great culture and great humanity.”

The Vatican did not publish those remarks, which were off the cuff, but they were heard in a clip circulated by religious agencies and Russian news media. They prompted criticism from Ukrainians, who have long been frustrated by the pope’s efforts to maintain a sort of neutrality in the hopes of playing an eventual role in a peace deal, an ambition geopolitical experts say is a fantasy.

Pope Francis did not intend to “glorify imperialistic logic,” the Vatican said on Tuesday.

Many Mongolians still feel culturally close to Russia after 70 years of Soviet-influenced communist rule that suppressed religion. The country opened up after the fall of Communism, established relations with the Vatican in 1992 and enshrined religious freedom in its Constitution.

But while Mongolia’s neighbors perhaps increased the resonance of the pope’s trip, the Vatican on Tuesday made it clear, when asked about possible meetings with the Chinese or Russians while there, that the focus was on Mongolia.

“The trip is Mongolia,” said Matteo Bruni, the pope’s spokesman. “Pope Francis will go principally to talk to them.”

But the world’s powers were clearly on his mind. When a reporter on the flight who showed him a Ukrainian soldier’s canteen, apparently perforated with shrapnel, asked if diplomacy was hard, Francis said, “Yes, you can’t imagine how hard it is,” and added, “And at times it takes a sense of humor.”

A photo caption with an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to nuns praying in a church. The nuns were attending Mass, not saying Mass.

How we handle corrections

Jason Horowitz is the Rome bureau chief, covering Italy, the Vatican, Greece and other parts of Southern Europe. He previously covered the 2016 presidential campaign, the Obama administration and Congress, with an emphasis on political profiles and features. More about Jason Horowitz

Pope arrives on first visit to Mongolia as Vatican relations with Russia and China remain strained

Pope Francis arrived in Mongolia on Friday morning on a visit to encourage one of the world’s smallest and newest Catholic communities.

It’s the first time a pope has visited the landlocked Asian country and comes at a time when the Vatican’s relations with Mongolia’s two powerful neighbors, Russia and China , are once again strained.

Francis arrived in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar after an overnight flight passing through Chinese airspace, affording the pontiff a rare opportunity to send a note of greetings to President Xi Jinping. Vatican protocol calls for the pope to send such greetings whenever he flies over a foreign country.

In his message to Xi, Francis expressed “greetings of good wishes to your excellency and the people of China.”

“Assuring you of my prayers for the wellbeing of the nation, I invoke upon all of you the divine blessings of unity and peace,” Francis said.

Upon arrival, Francis, who uses a wheelchair, was met on the tarmac by helmeted honor guards along with Mongolia’s foreign minister and was offered a taste of dried yoghurt from a woman in traditional dress, in a sign of welcome. He made no public comments. Along with priests and others gathered on the tarmac, several dozen watched his arrival from the airport terminal.

Speaking to reporters en route to Mongolia late Thursday, Francis said he was looking forward to visiting a country that has just a few people, but with a culture that you need your senses to understand.

“There are only a few inhabitants — a small people, but a big culture,” he said aboard the ITA charter plane. “I think it will do us good to try to understand this long, big silence, understand what it means but not intellectually, but with senses.” He added: “Mongolia, you understand with your senses.”

On tap are official meetings with the Mongolian president and prime minister and a speech before Mongolian government, cultural and business leaders, followed by Francis’ first encounter with the bishops, priests and nuns who form the backbone of a tiny Catholic community of 1,450 that has only been in existence for a generation.

While Christianity has been present in the region for hundreds of years, the Catholic Church has only had a sanctioned presence in Mongolia since 1992, after the country shrugged off its Soviet-allied communist government and enshrined religious freedom in its constitution.

The Holy See and Mongolia have had diplomatic relations ever since, and a handful of missionary religious orders including Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity have nurtured the tiny community through its first three decades of life.

Four Missionaries of Charity sisters — Jeanne Francoise from Rwanda; Chanmi from South Korea; Viera from Slovakia and Suder from India — run a nursing home on the northern outskirts of Ulaanbaatar with a capacity of 30 beds. There, they provide care for elderly people with mental or physical disabilities, or who are homeless, undocumented, or otherwise ostracized by their families.

Sister Jeanne Francoise said it was an honor that Francis was coming to Mongolia, saying she had seen him once before when she was living in Rome but that it was never as “close” as it would be in Mongolia.

Francis has long praised the work of missionaries and has tried to reinvigorate the missionary focus of the church at large by visiting them and encouraging their work. One of his first events in Mongolia is to preside over an encounter with missionaries Saturday afternoon at the capital’s St. Peter and Paul cathedral, and he ends his visit by inaugurating a new church-run charity house to tend to Mongolia’s poorest.

“I want people to know that the Catholic religion, the Catholic Church, and Catholic believers also exist in Mongolia,” the Rev. Sanjaajav Tserenkhand, a Mongolian priest, said outside the cathedral. He said he hoped that Francis’ visit would also show Mongolians that Christianity isn’t a “foreign religion,” but is also rooted in the country.

The Argentine pontiff has long prioritized visiting Catholic communities in what he calls the peripheries, staying away from the global centers of Catholicism to minister instead to small churches where Catholics are often a minority. He has made cardinals out of their leaders to show the universal reach of the 1.3-billion strong Catholic Church, including the head of the Mongolian church, Cardinal Giorgio Marengo.

“His heart burns with love for the universal church, and especially the church where she lives in a minority context,” Marengo told journalists during a recent visit to Rome. “And that is the wonderful meaning of his coming all the way to Mongolia.”

The other main focus of Francis’ four-day visit is to highlight Mongolia’s long tradition of interfaith coexistence. The Mongol Empire under its famed founder Genghis Khan was known for tolerating people of different faiths among those it conquered, and Francis will likely emphasize that tradition when he presides over an interfaith meeting Sunday.

The Associated Press

Vatican publishes schedule for papal trip to Mongolia

Pope Francis will be the first pope to visit Mongolia when he heads to its capital at the end of this summer.

This is the logo for Pope Francis' visit to Mongolia and its capital, Ulaanbaatar. The logo shows an outline of the borders of Mongolia painted in the colors of the nation's flag and containing a cross and a traditional Mongolian dwelling from which rises smoke colored yellow to represent the Vatican. The two vertical inscriptions say the theme, "hoping together," in Mongolian. (CNS photo/Holy See Press Office)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' visit to Mongolia Aug. 31-Sept. 4 will make him the first pope to visit this Asian nation, which is home to one cardinal and some 1,300 Catholics.

The focus of the visit will be encounters with leaders of government and civil society and meetings with local Catholics. There will be an ecumenical and interreligious gathering as well as a Mass and the inauguration of a charity center.

Mongolia is a large country landlocked between Russia and China. A former communist nation, the country maintains close cultural, political and military ties with Russia and China is its largest economic partner.

The pope's trip, therefore, will be strategic to the Vatican, which has strained relations with neighboring China -- primarily due to apparent violations of an agreement between China and the Vatican which outlines procedures for the appointment of bishops -- and which has been seeking ways to halt the war linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In August 2022, Pope Francis named Italian Bishop Giorgio Marengo, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to be the first cardinal based in Mongolia. Cardinal Marengo has served in Mongolia since 2003 and at 49 years old is the youngest member of the College of Cardinals.

Of the country's more than 3.3 million people, about 1,300 are Catholic. About 52% are Buddhist, about 3% are Muslim, 2.5% are Shamanist and 1.3% are Christian. About 40.6% of the population identifies as "none" when it comes to religious affiliation, according to the CIA Factbook.

The Catholic faith arrived in the 13th century during the Mongol empire, but it did not flourish and missionary work came to a halt after a socialist republic was formed in the 1920s.

With the introduction of democracy in 1991, Catholic missionaries returned and diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Mongolia were established in 1992.

Here is the detailed schedule of the pope's trip released by the Vatican July 6. Times listed are local, with Eastern Daylight Saving Time in parenthesis.

Thursday, Aug. 31 (Rome)

-- 6:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m.) Departure from Rome's Fiumicino airport.

Friday, Sept. 1 (Ulaanbaatar)

-- 10 a.m. (10 p.m. Aug. 31) Arrival at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar and official welcome.

Saturday, Sept. 2 (Ulaanbaatar)

-- 9 a.m. (9 p.m. Sept. 1) Welcome ceremony at Sükhbaatar Square.

-- 9:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. Sept. 1) Courtesy visit with President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh at the State Palace.

-- 10:20 a.m. (10:20 p.m. Sept. 1) Meeting with authorities, members of the diplomatic corps and local representatives in the Ikh Mongol hall at the palace. Speech by pope.

-- 11 a.m. (11 p.m. Sept. 1) Meeting with Gombojavyn Zandanshatar, chairman of Mongolia's parliament, the State Great Khural.

-- 11:10 a.m. (11:10 p.m. Sept. 1) Meeting with Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene.

-- 4 p.m. (4 a.m.) Meeting with bishops, priests, religious, missionaries and pastoral workers at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul. Speech by pope.

Sunday, Sept. 3 (Ulaanbaatar)

-- 10 a.m. (10 p.m. Sept. 2) Ecumenical and interreligious meeting at the Hun Theater. Speech by pope.

-- 4 p.m. (4 a.m.) Mass at the Steppe Arena. Homily by pope.

Monday, Sept. 4 (Ulaanbaatar, Rome)

-- 9:30 a.m. (9 p.m. Sept. 3) Meeting with charity workers and the inauguration of the House of Mercy. Speech by pope.

-- 11:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m. Sept. 3) Farewell ceremony at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar.

-- 12 p.m. (12 a.m.) Departure by plane for Rome.

-- 5:20 p.m. (11:20 a.m.) Arrival at Rome's Fiumicino airport.

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

With its Rome bureau founded in 1950, Catholic News Service has been providing complete, in-depth coverage of the popes and the Vatican for more than 70 years.  CNS Rome continues to be your fair, faithful and informed connection to the Holy See.

Featured Stories

Jubilee 2025

Vatican norms for jubilee indulgence include pilgrimage, penance, service.

An indulgence, a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for their sins, has been a key feature of holy years for centuries. But updated norms for obtaining...

Pope Francis

Peace in politics, in the world starts in people's hearts, pope says.

Pope Francis took part in the World Meeting on Human Fraternity being held in Rome and at the Vatican May 10-11. The meeting brought Nobel laureates, government officials...

World's ills rooted in too much greed, not too many babies, pope says

"Human life is not a problem, it is a gift," Pope Francis said at meeting addressing the declining birthrate in Italy. "The problem is not how many of us there are in the...

‘Lively in faith’: Pope Francis heads to Mongolia with eye on diplomacy

Mongolia, bordering Russia and China, could help ease church’s troubled relations with Beijing and support the pontiff’s efforts for dialogue on Ukraine.

Pope Francis has a reputation for visiting some of the world’s most remote countries, even in places where Catholics are few in number. So, it may not be too surprising that this week he will be in Mongolia, a nation with just 1,450 Catholics.

Francis will arrive in the Mongolian capital on September 1 and stay until September 4, with plans to meet the country’s Catholic faithful, celebrate mass and engage in inter-religious dialogue.

Keep reading

Mongolia vows to clean up coal trade after fury over china deals, squeezed between china and russia, mongolia’s herders feel pinch, what has pushed mongolians to take to the streets in protest, protesters in mongolia try to storm state palace.

Talking about the visit at St Peter’s Square on the Sunday before his departure, the 86-year-old pope told the crowd the church there was “small in numbers, but lively in faith and great in charity”.

But there may be more to the papal visit than religion.

The pope’s schedule also includes a full day of meetings with Mongolia’s political leaders, with conversations likely to touch on Mongolia’s relations with its two giant neighbours, Russia and China. That is important now more than ever as Francis seeks dialogue between the West and Russia to find a way out of the now-18-month-old war in Ukraine.

The pope is also looking for avenues to speak to China’s leadership over the governance of that country’s estimated 10 to 12 million Catholics. The Holy See and Beijing have not had official diplomatic relations for more than 70 years and relations between the two have been strained over the appointment of bishops and creation of dioceses despite an agreement on the issue in 2018.

In April, without Vatican approval, Beijing appointed a new bishop for Shanghai, the country’s biggest diocese.

The hope is that Mongolia, which has good relationships with both Moscow and Beijing, may be able to create an opening for dialogue between Beijing and the Catholic Church .

For Mongolia, the pontiff’s visit matters because it signals Ulaanbaatar’s rise as an intermediary between powers who do not always get along, explained Amar Adiya, the publisher of Mongolia Weekly newsletter.

“It also boosts Mongolia’s credentials as a religiously tolerant democracy in contrast to its neighbours,” he said.

The trip also briefly puts Mongolia on the world stage, said Adiya.

“The big picture is that Mongolia has come a long way from the 13th century when its rulers demanded a pope’s submission,” he said, referring to a letter sent by Guyuk Khan in 1246 to the Vatican with the insistence that Pope Innocent IV surrender to Mongol authority.

“This visit reflects Mongolia’s evolution into a partner across cultures,” said Adiya.

Jack Weatherford, a historian and author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, notes that the message bearer between Guyuk Khan and Pope Innocent IV was the Franciscan monk John of Plano Carpini.

Other Franciscans followed in an effort to connect Mongolians and Europeans.

“It seems fitting that now, nearly eight centuries later, the first pope to visit Mongolia is also the first to bear the name of Francis,” Weatherford said.

Key connection

Francis’s visit to Mongolia correlates with his past travel routine of seeking out nations where he can exercise both political and religious muscle.

In April, he was in Hungary where he met Ukrainian refugees and the Russian Orthodox Church leader. In January, Francis visited the conflict zones – the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan – where he travelled on a ‘pilgrimage of peace’. He has also toured countries including Kazakhstan, Iraq and southern Africa in recent years.

The papal visit to Mongolia comes as the world watches China and Russia increase cooperation and try to pull other countries into their orbit. Some say Ulaanbaatar may be an opportunity for the Vatican to sneak in through the back door, as it were.

“Mongolia emerges as a potential conduit through which the Catholic Church could foster connections with both China and Russia,” said Zolbayar Enkhbaatar, co-founder of Lemon Press, a financial media company in Mongolia. “Mongolia is a strategically important destination for the Catholic Church.”

Mongolia does have some experience in international diplomacy. In recent years, the country has developed the Ulaanbaatar Dialogue which has brought together countries including Japan and North Korea to discuss regional issues.

From a religious perspective, the pope will be speaking to a nation that, for the most part, follows Tibetan Buddhism mixed with a native culture of shamanism. According to the United States state department, about 40 percent of Mongolians are not religious, but among those who expressed a religious identity, 87 percent declared themselves Buddhist and just two percent Christian.

Historically, the Mongols have been in contact with Christians since the seventh century, when Nestorian Christians arrived on the fringes of Mongolian lands. During the time of the Mongol Empire, in the 1200s, several Christian missionaries were dispatched from Europe to try and convert the Mongol khans.

Mongolia did not become a Christian nation, but it has long been willing to learn from other cultures and religions.

“I hope that the pope’s visit will be a celebration of religious tolerance and openness,” said Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, the chair of Mongolia’s Civic Unity Party, and a former minister of sport, culture and tourism.

She called the trip historic and expects that Francis will see Mongolia as a peace-loving nation.

“It doesn’t matter how many people are Catholic in our predominantly Buddhist country. It matters that the entire population of Mongolia embraces religious diversity and loves peace and freedom,” she said.

Pope visit to Mongolia will thrill tiny Catholic community, cardinal says

• Medium Text

Sign up here.

Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Sharon Singleton

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

World Chevron

China calls for stable ties with South Korea despite 'difficulties'

China and South Korea should seek stable ties despite their recent "difficulties", Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his South Korean counterpart on Monday at a rare meeting in Beijing held amid tensions over Taiwan and other regional issues.

A Russian general in charge of personnel issues has been detained on suspicion of engaging in criminal activity, Tass news agency reported early on Tuesday, quoting a source in the security services.

What the pope’s visit to Mongolia says about his priorities and how he is changing the Catholic Church

Associate Vice President of Research, University of Iowa

Disclosure statement

Kristy Nabhan-Warren does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Iowa provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.

View all partners

Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Mongolia, which is home to fewer than 1,500 Catholics, has elicited curiosity among Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

This will be the pope’s 43rd trip abroad since his election on March 13, 2013: He has visited 12 countries in the Americas, 11 in Asia and 10 in Africa.

What do these visits tell us about this pope’s mission and focus?

As a scholar of Roman Catholicism, I have studied Catholicism’s appeal for immigrants and refugees, and I argue that the pontiff’s official travels since 2013 are part of his decadelong effort to rebrand the Roman Catholic Church as a religious institution that centers the poor.

Prioritizing the poor

While previous popes have included the poor in their speeches, what has distinguished this pope is that he has focused on the Global South and prioritized immigrants, refugees and the less privileged, from Bolivia to Myanmar to Mongolia.

At his July 2013 visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa to commemorate migrants who had drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, Francis gave a blistering critique of the world’s failure to care for the poor: “In this globalized world, we have fallen into globalized indifference . We have become used to the suffering of others: it doesn’t affect me; it doesn’t concern me; it’s none of my business!”

Three years later, the pope flew 12 Syrian Muslim refugees from a Greek refugee camp to Rome. Francis is the first pope to relocate refugees and to work with groups like The Community of St. Egidio charity in Rome that have successfully resettled thousands of refugees.

During my own interviews with Central American Catholic immigrants and refugees in central and eastern Iowa between 2013-2020 for my book, “ Meatpacking America ,” I heard from women and men who fled violence and poverty in their home nations that they look up to this pope “because he cares about us,” as Fernando said. And Josefina told me back in 2017 that this pope is “the real deal” in terms of supporting immigrants and the poor.

Francis and liberation theology

His predecessors – Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict – specifically condemned liberation theology , a philosophy rooted in Catholic social teachings that calls for a preferential option for the poor and an embrace of Marxist ideology.

According to Austen Ivereigh prior to his becoming pope, Francis — then Jorge Mario Bergoglio – condemned liberation theology as well . He would say “that they were for the people but never with them,” wrote Ivereigh, in his biography of Pope Francis.

Since his election as pope, however, Francis has undertaken what I call “people-focused” liberationism. In one of his first official announcements in 2013, “Evangelii Gaudium,” or “The Joy of the Gospel,” the pope wrote about the essential inclusion of the poor in society, arguing that “without the preferential option for the poor, the proclamation of the Gospel, which is itself the prime form of charity, risks being misunderstood or submerged by the ocean of words which daily engulfs us in today’s society of mass communications.”

In other words, the Gospel’s message that all Christians proclaim doesn’t mean a whole lot if the poor are not central to the goal of personal as well as collective salvation.

Journeying to Mongolia

How does the pope’s upcoming visit to Mongolia factor into this decade-spanning trajectory of his people-focused liberation?

Christianity has been present in Mongolia since the seventh century. Nestorianism, an Eastern branch of Christianity named after the Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, who lived from 386 C.E. to 451 C.E., coexisted alongside an even older religious practice, shamanism, which emphasized the natural world and dates to the third century. Nestorians believe that Christ had two natures – one human and one divine.

While Mary was seen as important within Nestorian theology as Christ’s mother, she is not seen as divine. This is similar to Roman Catholic theology where Mary is deemed special because she is Christ’s mother and worthy of veneration.

According to historian Robert Merrihew Adams , the missionary activity of Nestorian Christians in central Asia from the seventh to the 13th centuries was “ the most impressive Christian enterprise ” of the Middle Ages because of its rapid spread and influence.

Adams argues that Nestorianism’s spread was in part because of its belief that Christ was a two-natured individual – one divine and one human. These two natures in one body meshed well with preexisting shamanic beliefs, as shamanism sees individuals as able to harness the supernatural.

In addition to this branch of Eastern Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism came to Mongolia in the 13th century, as did Islam. Today, Buddhism is the dominant religion of Mongolia , while Islam and Christianity remain very small percentages at 3% and 2.5%.

Pope Francis has made it clear throughout his tenure that interfaith dialogue is an essential remedy to division. During his visit he will preside over an interfaith gathering and the opening of a Catholic charity house.

A strategic visit

The past decade has brought rapid urbanization and growth in major cities such as the capital of Ulaanbaatar, along with high rates of unemployment and Covid-era economic downturn.

And yet, according to the World Bank, the economic forecast for Mongolia remains “promising” because of its rich natural resources, such as gold, copper, coal and other minerals.

However, extraction of Mongolia’s resources is occurring at a rapid pace – so much so that the country, according to the Harvard International Review, has been called “Minegolia.” The United States has made significant investment in Mongolia’s mining industry, and China is a major importer of Mongolian coal. Two rail lines connecting Mongolia to China were installed in January 2022 and a third is being built.

In the past, Francis has made strong comments against corruption and environmental degradation, and it would not be surprising if he addressed the challenges of the mining industry during his trip. During his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023, he critiqued the Global North that contributed to “the poison of greed” that has “smeared its diamonds with blood.” In 2018, the pope spent a few hours in Madre de Dios, an area in the Peruvian Amazon, where mining has led to large-scale environmental degradation.

The pope’s visit will be bold given the challenges before Mongolia and its geographic location between Russia and China. A peace delegation on behalf of Pope Francis for the war in Ukraine, led by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, that visted Russia this summer is likely to head to China in the coming months .

As Italian Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, a missionary in Mongolia for two decades, has emphasized, Pope Francis’s visit to this country with a tiny minority of Catholics will “ manifest the attention that the (pope) has for every individual, every person who embarks in this journey of faith.”

This piece has been updated to correct the depiction of the Roman Catholic Church’s view on Mary’s divinity.

• Pope John Paul II
• Pope Benedict
• Religion and society
• Liberation theology

Lecturer / Senior Lecturer - Marketing

Communications and Engagement Officer, Corporate Finance Property and Sustainability

Assistant Editor - 1 year cadetship

Executive Dean, Faculty of Health

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, Earth System Science (School of Science)

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• Auto Racing
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Francis opens clinic on the first papal visit to Mongolia. He says it’s about charity not conversion

Pope Francis wrapped up the first-ever papal visit to Mongolia on Monday by inaugurating a new church-run homeless clinic and shelter. __ Associated Press religion coverage is supported by The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Francis sent a special greeting to China’s “noble” people on Sunday, giving them a special shout-out at the end of a Mass celebrated in neighbouring Mongolia during a papal visit that was largely overshadowed by Beijing and its crackdown on religious minorities. __ Associated Press religion coverage is supported by The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. (Sept. 4)

Pope Francis attends a meeting with charity workers and the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Francis toured the House of Mercy in the final event of an historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

• Copy Link copied

Children in traditional dress welcome Pope Francis arriving for a meeting with charity workers and for the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Francis toured the House of Mercy in the final event of an historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis leaves after a meeting with charity workers and the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Francis toured the House of Mercy in the final event of an historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Pope Francis leaves in a car after a meeting with charity workers and the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Francis toured the House of Mercy in the final event of an historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A faithful makes her way through security to reach for Pope Francis leaving in a car after a meeting with charity workers and the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Francis toured the House of Mercy in the final event of an historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A faithful makes his way through security to reach for Pope Francis leaving in a car after a meeting with charity workers and the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Francis toured the House of Mercy in the final event of an historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Faithful react as they see Pope Francis leaving in a car after a meeting with charity workers and the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Francis toured the House of Mercy in the final event of an historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A faithful reaches for Pope Francis’ hand as he leaves in a car after a meeting with charity workers and the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Francis toured the House of Mercy in the final event of an historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Pope Francis arrives in a car for a meeting with charity workers and for the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Francis toured the House of Mercy in the final event of an historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

People watch as a plane carrying Pope Francis prepares to take off from Ulaanbaatar’s International airport Chinggis Khaan in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Francis leaves after a historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

A plane carrying Pope Francis takes off from Ulaanbaatar’s International airport Chinggis Khaan in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Francis leaves after a historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Bishops including cardinal-elect Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Chow, second row at right, attend a mass presided over by Pope Francis at the Steppe Arena in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023. Francis is in Mongolia to minister to one of the world’s smallest and newest Catholic communities. Neighboring China’s crackdown on religious minorities has been a constant backdrop to the trip, even as the Vatican hopes to focus attention instead on Mongolia and its 1,450 Catholics. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Cardinals and bishops including cardinal-elect Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Chow, center, attend a mass presided over by Pope Francis at the Steppe Arena in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar, Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023. Francis is in Mongolia to minister to one of the world’s smallest and newest Catholic communities. Neighboring China’s crackdown on religious minorities has been a constant backdrop to the trip, even as the Vatican hopes to focus attention instead on Mongolia and its 1,450 Catholics. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up the first-ever papal visit to Mongolia on Monday by inaugurating a church-run homeless clinic and shelter, insisting that such initiatives aren’t aimed at winning converts but are simply exercises in Christian charity.

Francis toured the House of Mercy, a three-story structure housed in an old school, which the local church has opened as an expression of the roots that it has taken in the three decades that the Catholic Church has had an official presence in Mongolia. It was the final event of an historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads .

Several of the foreign-staffed Catholic religious orders in Mongolia run shelters, orphanages and nursing homes to care for a population of 3.3 million where one in three people lives in poverty. But the new clinic for homeless people, people with disabilities and victims of domestic violence is aimed at showing the outreach of the Mongolian Catholic Church as a whole to its local community.

“The true progress of a nation is not gauged by economic wealth, much less by investment in the illusory power of armaments, but by its ability to provide for the health, education and integral development of its people,” Francis said at the shelter, urging Mongolians rich and poor to volunteer to help their fellow citizens.

An emotional scene erupted as Francis left the facility and his car was approached by a number of faithful, apparently from China, where the church is under heavy pressure from the officially atheist ruling Communist Party.

Singing “Please lead us to heaven, great pontiff, we are blessed, dear pontiff, we admire you, you are the representative of God,” the group, many in tears, waved and reached out their arms. A couple of women among them were permitted to approach the pope and hand him gifts. One leaned inside and received a papal caress on her cheek.

At a certain point police had to push the excited faithful away from the car, but no incidents were reported.

The church has in past been viewed at times as using charities such as orphanages and soup kitchens to lure converts, particularly in China, where the phrase “rice Christian” had been a term of derision. China’s Communist leaders have continued to question the loyalty of the country’s estimated 12 million Catholics in both state-recognized and underground congregations, and keep them under strict monitoring.

Currently, some 77 missionaries minister to Mongolia’s Catholics, who with around 1,450 people constitute one of the tiniest Catholic flocks in the world. But only two Mongolian men have been ordained priests, and no Mongolian women have decided to join religious congregations as nuns.

These foreign missionaries say the biggest challenge facing them is to cultivate a truly local Mongolian church, with trained lay people who are well inserted into the fabric of society. That, they hope, will eventually lead to more religious vocations so that foreign missionaries become less and less necessary.

“We have to make this a church of Mongolia, one that has the flavor of this land, of its steppes, of its sheep, goats, of its ger,” said the Rev. Ernesto Viscardi, an Italian priest of the Consolata missionary order who has been based in Mongolia for 19 years.

“There are 77 of us missionaries. We’re all great, all saints, everyone works well,” he said laughing. “But we have to think about making the local church grow, so that the (Mongolian) people take their church in hand. Otherwise we colonize Mongolia anew, and that makes no sense.”

In urging everyday Mongolians to volunteer to help the poor, Francis said charity work wasn’t just for the idle rich but for everyone. And he denied that Catholic charity was about winning new converts.

“Another myth needing to be dispelled is that the Catholic Church, distinguished throughout the world for its great commitment to works of social promotion, does all this to proselytize, as if caring for others were a way of enticing people to ‘join up,’” Francis said. “No! Christians do whatever they can to alleviate the suffering of the needy, because in the person of the poor they acknowledge Jesus, the Son of God, and in him the dignity of each person.”

Francis’ comment was a tacit acknowledgement of the competition for souls in places like Mongolia, which banned religious observation during decades of Soviet-allied communist government. Now, religious freedom is enshrined in the Mongolian constitution, and a variety of Christian and evangelical churches have taken root here.

Some, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, boast a much bigger presence in Mongolia and claim far more members than the Catholic Church. But in a sign that Catholics weren’t competing with the Mormons or other Christian churches, Francis invited their leaders to an interfaith meeting on Saturday in Ulaanbaatar to show their common concern for promoting a more peaceful and harmonious world.

In seeking to encourage Mongolia’s tiny Catholic flock , Francis has insisted that their small size doesn’t matter and that their success shouldn’t be measured in numbers. “God loves littleness, and through it he loves to accomplish great things,” Francis told priests, nuns and bishops from around the region during a Saturday encounter in the cathedral.

Francis came to Mongolia to give a word of hope to the young church, but also to make a geopolitically important foray into a troubled region for the Holy See, particularly given neighboring China’s crackdown on religious observance.

On Sunday, Francis gave a special shout-out to Chinese Catholics, issuing a warm word of greeting from the altar of Mass at the Steppe Arena.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the pope’s Sunday greeting to the “noble Chinese people” had been noted.

“China has always taken a positive attitude towards improving relations with the Vatican and has maintained contact and communication with the Vatican,” Mao told reporters at a daily briefing Monday.

China cut ties with the Vatican shortly after the 1949 Communist revolution and current Chinese leader Xi Jinping insists all religions conform to party doctrine and make themselves Chinese in essence. Under Xi, China has largely torched a pledge to consult on the appointment of Chinese bishops.

On Monday, Oyunchimeg Tserendolgo, a social worker at a public school, brought a group of her students to see Francis outside the shelter. She said she felt she had to come see the pope even though she herself isn’t Catholic.

“I wish for (the) Roman pope to live a long life and to bring more goodness not only to Mongolia, but to the rest of the world,” she said as she held a photo of the pontiff. “When I heard that pope is leaving today, I had to come here to pay my respects. I am so glad I got a glimpse of him. Just so happy.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Francis leaves hospital following check-up

The pontiff has suffered a number of ailments over recent years, including having part of his colon removed in 2021.

Wednesday 7 June 2023 09:34, UK

Pope Francis has left Rome's Gemelli hospital following a check-up.

The 86-year-old had visited the hospital for tests following at least two recent bouts of illness.

He spent several days at the same hospital at the end of March following treatment for a respiratory infection , and last month had to skip audiences due to a fever.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Witnesses at the Vatican's Perugino gate, one of the main entrances to the city state, said Pope Francis returned to the Vatican a short while after he was seen leaving, and greeted guards as he usually does.

The Vatican has so far not commented on the exact reason for his visit on Tuesday, but local media reports said he had gone to the department of the hospital which specialised in treating elderly patients.

Over the weekend he delivered a noon prayer in St Peter's square in the Vatican.

Francis, who marked his 10th year as pontiff in March, has suffered a number of ailments in recent years - and often uses a wheelchair or a cane to walk because of persistent knee pain.

In July 2021 he had part of his colon removed in an operation aimed at addressing a painful bowel condition called diverticulitis. He said earlier this year that the condition had returned.

He is also missing part of one lung, which he had removed when he was a young man in Argentina.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

Read more: Pope tells young Italians to stop being 'selfish' and have more children Pope Francis jokes as he leaves hospital after three-day stay

Despite his health issues, the pontiff maintains a busy schedule.

On Saturday, the Vatican announced plans for Francis to visit Mongolia in late August and early September.

On his visit to the country, he is due to visit a tiny Christian community as part of his aim to visit Catholics on the periphery of the Church's reach.

Statistics provided by the non-profit, Aid To The Church In Need, show that Mongolia is just 2% Christian.

Before that trip he is due to visit Portugal in early August where he will attend the World Youth Day in Lisbon and visit the Shrine of Fatima.

Pope Francis to visit Rome's Campidoglio in June

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Pope Francis will visit Rome's capital, often referred to simply as the Campidoglio, on June 10.

The news was confirmed by the Holy See Press Office on Friday following an announcement earlier in the day by the chaplain of the local Police of the City of Rome, Father Massimo Cocci.

During the visit, Rome's Mayor Roberto Gualtieri will welcome Pope Francis at 9 am.

Pope Francis received the Roman Mayor in the Vatican on January 4, as it is the tradition for the Bishop of Rome to receive the Eternal City's Mayor at the start of the year.

After the encounter, Mr. Gualtieri called the encounter "profoundly inspiring" and called the Bishop of Rome a model of "solidarity, fraternity, and peace."

A return to the Campidoglio after Prayer for Peace

Pope Francis went to the Campidoglio in October 2020 to participate in the Community of Sant'Egidio's annual Prayer Meeting for Peace. 

After interventions by Sant'Egidio's founder, Professor Andrea Riccardi, Italy's President, Sergio Mattarella, and religious leaders present, the Holy Father gave his address, before all observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the pandemic, wars, terrorism and violence, worldwide.

Subsequently, an appeal for peace was read, and, in keeping with the annual event's tradition, some children, who received the text of the appeal from the religious leaders, passed it on to ambassadors and political leaders present.

Thank you for reading our article. You can keep up-to-date by subscribing to our daily newsletter. Just click here

More upcoming events:

The Pope's Agenda

Listen to our podcasts

Subscribe to our newsletters

To get the latest news

Papal audiences

Daily readings

Saint of the day