Pope Francis takes a long journey to meet 1,400 Catholics in Mongolia

He Pope Francisco rested today from the long journey, nine and a half hours flight, and from the jet lag, after arriving this morning in the capital of this country, of which he emphasized the silence of its great steppes and its “vast culture”, despite the few inhabitants and the only 1,400 Catholics.

On his arrival at Chengis Khaan International Airport, he was received by a young woman who offered him dried yogurt, a typical custom of the country, and by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Battsetseg Batmunkh, with whom he met for a few minutes in a room at the airport already that tomorrow the official welcome ceremony will take place in the presence of various authorities.

Francis then went to rest in the prefecture, the residence of the prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, as the Vatican has no nunciature (embassy) in the country.

During the trip, the pope emphasized that he came to visit a small people living in a huge area, a small people “but with a great culture” and asked to think about the stillness of the steppes, saying that “Mongolia itself understands’. with the senses”.

‘A point in the steppe. This is how it feels when you travel through Mongolia. Here one finds one’s rightful position in the world and in life. Faith returns to its original essence, or at least is provoked to this return,” Giorgio Marengo, the apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, the youngest cardinal appointed by Francis last year, described this country this Friday in the Vatican newspaper. . L’Osservatore Romano”.

Saint John Paul II hoped to arrive in 2003, but Pope Francis has become the first pope to set foot “in the land of the eternally blue sky, as the locals call it,” recalls Marengo.

The papal visit will focus on the capital, far from the beauty of the hills and deserts; one of the coldest cities in the world and also one of the most polluted because of the numerous coal-fired boilers still in use and significant mining activity.

Francisco will remain in the prefecture, the cardinal’s residence, as there is still no nunciature, despite the fact that the two countries have had bilateral relations for thirty years, after the fall of communism in 1992, and new labor treaties are being negotiated. negotiated. the Church and her missionaries in this country.

small Catholic community

Tomorrow, the pope will begin his visit to this country “of enormous culture”, as he explained on the fly, and will express his solidarity with what is considered the smallest Catholic community in the world, with about 1,400 baptized.

“A small community of believers, living in marginal situations, with the desire to keep sowing the good seed of good; as in the early 1990s, when the Church began her quiet and fruitful work of human promotion, cultural research and dialogue, which also brought to fruition the first Catholic communities, today gathered in 9 parishes,” Marengo added in his letter .

Marengo also spoke of an “interfaith dialogue” because “this is the indispensable starting point to be able to build (or consolidate) bridges and for this reason the Pope will meet exponents of other religions who are present in the country, where 53% are Tibetan Buddhists. . (JO)

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