Pope Francis arrived in Mongolia on Friday for a four-day visit, the first by a pope to the country, with one of the smallest Catholic communities in the world, fewer than 1,500 people.
Arriving at the airport in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, at 10:00 a.m. (03:00 a.m. in Lisbon), Francis, who arrived in a wheelchair, was received by the Mongolian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Battsetseg Batmunkh, and by a young woman who He offered him dried yogurt, a typical custom of the country.
Francis and Battsetseg Batmunkh then met for a few minutes in an airport lounge before the 86-year-old pope retired to the residence of Mongolian cardinal Giorgio Marengo of Italy to rest from his nine-hour flight and half.
The official welcoming ceremony for the Pope will take place on Saturday morning, when Francis will also meet Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh and Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene.
In the afternoon, the Pope will meet with some 80 bishops, priests and consecrated missionaries throughout Mongolia, where there are only nine parishes, four of them in the capital, where 40% of the population lives in one of the most depopulated countries in the world. world. It is concentrated..
On Sunday, Francis will celebrate Mass at an ice hockey stadium for the 1,500 Mongolian faithful, 90% of whom live in the capital, but are expected to be joined by another 1,000 faithful from neighboring countries, including them Russia and China.
The Pope’s visit to Mongolia comes at a time when the Vatican’s relations with its two powerful neighbors, Russia and China, are once again strained.
Although Christianity has been present in the region for hundreds of years, the Catholic Church was not accepted in Mongolia until 1992, after the country abandoned an alliance with the Soviet Union and enshrined religious freedom in the constitution.
Another goal of Francis’ visit is to highlight Mongolia’s long tradition of interfaith coexistence. The Mongol Empire, under its founder Genghis Khan, was known for tolerating people of different religions among the conquered peoples.
The Pope will preside over an event on Sunday with representatives of the Buddhist (the majority in this nation of 3.3 million), Jewish, Muslim, Shinto and Christian churches that have established a presence in Mongolia over the past 30 years, including the Orthodox. Russian. Church.
On Monday, the last day of the trip, Francis will inaugurate the House of Charity, a place to welcome and help the most needy in Mongolia, which registers 36% of the population living below the poverty line.
The flight to Ulan Bator passed through Chinese airspace, giving Francis the rare opportunity to send a greeting note to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Vatican protocol requires the Pope to send such greetings every time he flies over a foreign country.
Source: TSF
