Message from 'heart of Asia': Pope's words go beyond Mongolian borders

VATICAN CITY — Being a Catholic does not destroy or replace a person's culture, and wanting to share the Gospel message does not mean wanting to take someone's allegiance away from their nation.

Visiting Mongolia Sept. 1-4, Pope Francis encouraged the nation's tiny Catholic community to grow in faith and charity, but the visit also was designed to reassure the government that it has nothing to fear from the Catholic missionaries who arrived in the country in 1992.

The pope's speeches in Ulaanbaatar, the national capital, repeatedly referenced positive contacts between Mongolians and the Vatican going back to 1200s when Pope Innocent IV sent an emissary to Güyük Khan, the ruler of the Mongol Empire and grandson of Genghis Khan.

Pope Francis used the ger, the traditional round house of the nomadic Mongolians, as symbols of warmth and unity. And he made repeated references to the "big sky" of Mongolian poetry as a sign of the Mongolian people's constant attention to the transcendent.

At the end of Mass Sept. 3, the pope praised Mongolians as "good Christians and honest citizens," and told them to "go forward, gently and without fear, conscious of the closeness and the encouragement of the entire church, and above all the tender gaze of the Lord, who forgets no one and looks with love upon each of his children."

Earlier, meeting with the missionaries in the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Francis told them: "Closeness, compassion and tenderness: treat people like that, personally caring for them, learning their language, respecting and loving their culture, not allowing yourselves to be tempted by worldly forms of security, but remaining steadfast in the Gospel through exemplary moral and spiritual lives."

And while the focus was on Mongolia and its 1,400 Catholics, China -- and perhaps Vietnam -- was never far from Pope Francis' mind.

The Catholic Church is registered as a "foreign NGO" in Mongolia, not as a church. Individual parishes are registered separately. Missionaries receive visas that must be renewed each year. And for every foreign missionary granted a visa, the church must hire at least five Mongolians.

The bigger challenge, Catholic missionaries told reporters covering the trip, is convincing Mongolians that Catholic missionaries are not some kind of advance team preparing for a Western invasion of their country.

Similar suspicions exist in China, and to a lesser degree, Vietnam.

Pope Francis flew over China early Sept. 1 before landing in Ulaanbaatar and again Sept. 4 on his way back to Rome, sending courtesy telegrams to Chinese President Xi Jinping, thanking him for allowing the papal plane to enter Chinese airspace and offering his blessings and good wishes to the nation.

Throughout his stay in Mongolia, Pope Francis was accompanied by bishops from Central Asia and beyond. They included Cardinal-designate Stephen Chow Sau-Yan of Hong Kong and the city's retired Cardinal John Tong Hon.

At the end of Mass Sept. 3 in Ulaanbaatar's Steppe Arena, the pope called the two over to him and told the international congregation, "I want to take the opportunity of their presence to send a warm greeting to the noble Chinese people."

To Chinese Catholics, he added, "I ask you to be good Christians and good citizens."

Mao Ning, spokeswoman of the Chinese foreign ministry, was asked about the pope's remarks at a Sept. 4 news conference.

"We noted the reports," she said. "China is positive toward improving the relations and we are in contact and communication with the Vatican."

Bishops and priests from mainland China were not permitted to travel to Mongolia, but several small groups of lay Catholics from China did manage to cross the border to see the pope.

A large group of Catholics from Vietnam also were present and were hopeful that the pope could visit their country soon.

"I don't know if I will go, but John XXIV certainly will," the pope, using the name he has invented for his successor, told reporters on his flight back to Rome.

The Vatican and Vietnam's communist government have a joint working group focused mainly on bilateral relations and trying to reach an agreement on establishing diplomatic ties. And since the 1990s, a Vatican delegation has made annual visits to Vietnam, getting government approval for the nomination of bishops and seeking permission on issues like establishing or expanding seminaries.

"I am very positive about the relationship with Vietnam; good work has been going on for years," Pope Francis told reporters on the plane Sept. 4.

"I remember four years ago, a group of Vietnamese parliamentarians came to visit: there was a nice dialogue with them, very respectful," the pope said. "When a culture is open, there is possibility for dialogue; if there is closure or suspicion, dialogue is very difficult. With Vietnam, the dialogue is open, with its pluses and minuses, but it is open and slowly moving forward. There have been some problems, but they have been resolved."

Pope Francis and his predecessors have been betting on a similarly patient dialogue with China for decades. And Pope Francis shows no sign of giving up.

"The relationship with China is very respectful, very respectful," he told reporters on the flight back to Rome. "I personally have great admiration for the Chinese people."

While some priests and Catholic intellectuals have been invited to teach at Chinese universities, promoting a cultural dialogue, the pope said, "I think we need to move forward in the religious aspect to understand each other better and so that Chinese citizens do not think that the church does not accept their culture and values" and to dispel the idea that through ties with the pope, the Catholic Church in China "is dependent on another, foreign power."

"Relations are moving forward," he repeated.

 — Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

At Mass in Mongolia, pope sends 'warm greetings' to neighboring China

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — While China allowed Pope Francis' plane to cross its airspace on the way to Mongolia, an office of the Chinese Communist Party prevented any Catholic bishops or priests in the mainland from traveling there to see the pope.

But a retired cardinal and the future cardinal of Hong Kong were at papal events throughout the pope's Sept. 1-4 stay in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital.

At the end of Mass Sept. 3 in the Steppe Arena, Pope Francis called retired Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong and Cardinal-designate Stephen Chow Sau-Yan of Hong Kong up to him.

Taking them by the hands, he told the crowd: "These two brother bishops -- the emeritus of Hong Kong and the current bishop of Hong Kong -- I want to take the opportunity of their presence to send a warm greeting to the noble Chinese people."

The pope said he wanted to wish the best to the entire Chinese nation, "and to Chinese Catholics, I ask you to be good Christians and good citizens."

While bishops and priests from the mainland were not permitted to travel to Mongolia, several small groups of lay Catholics from China did manage to cross the border to see the pope.

As Pope Francis rode around the arena in a golf cart before Mass, a few of them held up a large Chinese flag. The pope stopped and waved to them.

Flying over China on the way to Mongolia early Sept. 1, the pope sent a telegram to Chinese President Xi Jinping, offering his good wishes and assuring him of his "prayers for the well-being of the nation."

The Vatican and China have had a rocky relationship for decades, and tensions have continued even since Pope Francis and Chinese leaders first signed an agreement in 2018 on the naming of bishops for Chinese dioceses.

Researchers estimate China has about 12 million Catholics, who are split between those whose leaders have joined the patriotic association and those who refuse to do so. The U.S. State Department and a variety of human rights organizations continue to report excessive restrictions and even persecution of religious believers in China, including Catholics.

 — Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Pope, Mongolian religious leaders vow to promote harmony, shun violence

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — The 86-year-old Pope Francis and other religious elders gathered in a ger-shaped theater to speak of the earth and the divine, harmony and beauty, peace and the human family.

In Mongolia, where all religion was brutally repressed for seven decades under communist rule, Pope Francis paid tribute Sept. 3 especially to Mongolia's Buddhists, the largest religious group in the country; beginning in the late 1930s, thousands of Buddhist monks were condemned to death and hundreds of Buddhist temples were destroyed.

The pope prayed that the memory of past suffering would give all Mongolians "the strength needed to transform dark wounds into sources of light, senseless violence into the wisdom of life (and) devastating evil into constructive goodness."

Leaders of the Buddhist, shamanist, Muslim, Evangelical, Seventh-day Adventist, Latter-day Saints, Hindu, Shinto, Baha'i and Russian Orthodox communities in Mongolia also spoke at the event in Ulaanbaatar's Hun Theatre.

They, like the pope, continually used the word "harmony."

"Harmony is that special relationship born of the creative interplay of differing realties, without imposition or amalgamation, but with complete respect for their differences, in view of a serene life in common," Pope Francis said. "I ask myself: Who, more than believers, is called to work for harmony among all?"

Close-mindedness and fundamentalism "destroy fraternity, fuel tensions and compromise peace," he said, but beauty is born of harmony, which "flourishes through kindness, listening and humility."

Harmony does not come from pretending there are no differences or from apologizing for one's deeply held beliefs, he said. "The church offers the treasure she has received to every person and culture, in a spirit of openness and in respectful consideration of what the other religious traditions have to offer."

"Dialogue, in fact, is not antithetical to proclamation," the pope insisted. "It does not gloss over differences, but helps us to understand them, to preserve them in their distinctiveness and to discuss them openly for the sake of mutual enrichment."

"We share a common origin that confers equal dignity on everyone," he said, "and a shared path that we can only travel alongside one another as we dwell under the one sky that surrounds and illumines us."

Faith in one creator of the whole human family means that there must never be a mixing of "religious beliefs and violence, of holiness and oppression, of religious traditions and sectarianism," the pope said.

Gabju Demberel Choijamts, abbot of the Tibetan Buddhists' Gandantegchinlen Monastery in Ulaanbaatar, told the gathering that while the different religions have different philosophies and world views, they promote values essential for human welfare, "important inner values such as loving kindness, compassion, morals, tolerance, forgiveness and karma."

While Russia's war on Ukraine was never far from people's attention during the pope's visit to Mongolia, which borders both Russia and China, Father Anthony Gusev, rector of the Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Church in Ulaanbaatar, did not mention the war. Instead, he gave a history of the Russian Orthodox presence in Mongolia since the 12th century.

Yair Jacob Porat, representing Mongolia's Jewish community, spoke about the coming celebration of Rosh Hashanah, which will begin at sunset Sept. 15.

The celebration "invites individuals of all backgrounds to contemplate their actions, seek forgiveness and strive for personal and collective improvement in the year ahead," he said. "The world and humanity need that with all the challenges we are facing worldwide."

Pope Francis told the leaders that the fact they all decided to gather in the ger and talk is already a sign to the world.

"If the leaders of nations were to choose the path of encounter and dialogue with others, it would be a decisive contribution to ending the conflicts continuing to afflict so many of the world's peoples," he said.

 — Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Charity is motivated by love, not designed to win converts, pope says

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — Pope Francis ended his four-day visit to Mongolia where Catholic missionaries began -- with charity.

Blessing the new House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar Sept. 4, the pope insisted that while Catholic charitable and social service activities have attracted Mongolians to the church, the service is motivated by love alone.

Salesian Brother Andrew Tran Le Phuong, director of the House of Mercy, told the pope the facility would offer: a shelter for vulnerable people, especially women and children; a first aid center for the homeless; free laundry and shower facilities; a place where returning migrants and others in need could go for help in connecting to services; and a meeting place to coordinate the variety of Catholic charities operating in the city.

Naidansuren Otgongerel, who took the name "Lucia" when she was baptized, uses prostheses on her arms and legs. But, she told the pope, "I am the luckiest person in the world, because I made the decision to accept fully the love of God, the love of Jesus."

Pope Francis used his speech to the charity workers and volunteers "to reject certain myths," including one about why Catholics offer education and health care, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and care for widows and orphans.

A big myth, he said, 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.' 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, called to be a son or daughter of God," the pope insisted.

The House of Mercy, he said, should be a place "where people of different creeds, and nonbelievers as well, can join efforts with local Catholics in order to offer compassionate assistance to our many brothers and sisters in the one human family."

Throughout his stay in Mongolia, Pope Francis tried to reassure the government and suspicious Mongolians that Christians were there to help and not to colonize or undermine traditional Mongolian culture.

Works of charity that involve people of different religions or no religion at all, he said, help people see each other as brothers and sisters, giving them a sense of "fraternity that the state will rightly seek to protect and promote."

"For this dream to come true," Pope Francis said, "it is essential, here and elsewhere, that those in public office support such humanitarian initiatives, encouraging a virtuous synergy for the sake of the common good."

The pope also rejected the idea that "only the wealthy can engage in volunteer work" because "reality tells us the opposite. It is not necessary to be wealthy to do good; rather, almost always it is people of modest means who choose to devote their time, skills and generosity to caring for others."

Another myth, he said, is "the notion that only money counts, as if the only way to care for others is to employ a salaried staff and invest in large facilities."

"Certainly, charity demands professionalism, but charitable works should not turn into businesses," the pope said. "Rather, they should retain their freshness as works of charity where those in need can find people ready to listen to them with compassion, regardless of whatever pay they may receive."

 — Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Pope encourages little Mongolian flock in faith, unity, witness

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — In a cathedral shaped like a ger, Pope Francis met leaders of Mongolia's tiny Catholic community, offering them encouragement but also reminding them that faith and unity must be at the center of their lives.

Without daily prayer and respect for the structure and unity of the church, "our strength will fail, and our pastoral work will risk becoming an empty delivery of services, a roster of duties that end up inducing only weariness and frustration," the pope said Sept. 2.

At the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Ulaanbaatar, the pope met with Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, and with the priests, religious and lay volunteers who minister to Mongolia's 1,450 Catholics and offer education, health care, food, shelter and other social support to thousands of others.

Bishop José Luis Mumbiela Sierra, head of the Diocese of the Holy Trinity in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Central Asia, and other bishops from the region also attended the meeting.

Before entering the cathedral, Pope Francis was welcomed with a glass of milk at a ger, a traditional Mongolian dwelling, on the cathedral grounds. He went inside and met Tsetsege, a Mongolian woman who uses only one name, who had found a statue of Mary in a garbage landfill before Christian missionaries arrived in the country. She showed it to the first Catholic she met, a Salesian sister, and it is now venerated inside the cathedral as Our Lady of Heaven.

Consolata Father Ernesto Viscardi, who has been in Mongolia for 19 years, told reporters, "It's a great surprise" that the pope would travel so far to visit "the world's smallest Catholic community," but it also is the "Bergoglio style," a reference to the pope's family name.

The papal visit brings the world's attention to Mongolia, he said, but it also is a powerful sign to Mongolian Catholics that they are part of a universal church.

The big challenges for Catholic missionaries in the country, he said, are: finding ways to connect with young people, making the church truly Mongolian -- "otherwise we'd just be colonizing again" -- and, finally, continuing to serve the poor and hurting while being mindful that that is not the "foreign NGO" that it is in the eyes of the government.

Pope Francis praised the churchworkers for making love for the poor their "calling card" but assured the government and those suspicious of the church that "the Lord Jesus, in sending his disciples into the world, did not send them to spread political theories, but to bear witness by their lives to the newness of his relationship with his Father, now 'our Father.'"

"Governments and secular institutions have nothing to fear from the church's work of evangelization," he said, because the church "has no political agenda to advance but is sustained by the quiet power of God's grace and a message of mercy and truth, which is meant to promote the good of all."

With missionaries coming from dozens of countries and trying to form one Catholic community with Mongolian Catholics, Pope Francis insisted "unity in the church is not about order and respect, nor is it simply a good strategy for 'teamwork.'"

Communion, he said, is "about faith and love for the Lord, about fidelity to him. Consequently, it is important for all ecclesial elements to remain firmly united around the bishop, who represents Christ alive in the midst of his people, and to build up the synodal fellowship that we preach and that greatly assists the inculturation of the faith."

Pope Francis listened to the "testimonies" of three people: a member of the Missionaries of Charity, a lay catechist and one of only two Mongolia-born priests.

Sister Salvia Mary Vandanakara told the pope about arriving in 1998 and living among the poorest of the poor, as St. Teresa of Kolkata taught her sisters. An early activity was organizing classes for children who risked not finishing school, she said. One of those boys is now a priest.

The priest, Father Peter Sanjaajav, told the pope his visit tells Mongolians that God "is by people's side, by the side of us Mongolians. It is wonderful to understand that God is so close to our daily life."

And Rufina Chamingerel, a lay pastoral worker, told the pope the young church in Mongolia -- which opened to missionaries only in the 1990s after decades of communist repression -- "is in that phase typical of children who constantly ask their parents questions."

Mongolian Catholics rejoiced last year when Pope Francis made their apostolic prefect, Bishop Marengo, a cardinal, she said. But they didn't know what a cardinal was.

She thanked Pope Francis for the current process for the "synod on synodality," which, she said, is giving local Catholics, especially catechists and other pastoral workers, a chance to discover "the true nature of the church."

Chamingerel also told the pope she thinks Mongolian Catholics "are very lucky" that there are not many catechisms or other Catholic educational materials in their local language, "but we have many missionaries who are living books."

 — Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

Pope begins Mongolia visit with talk of peace, respect for the Earth

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — In a land bordering both Russia and China, and having deep ties with both, Pope Francis told Mongolian leaders their country can play "a significant role in the heart of the great Asian continent and on the international scene," particularly in peacemaking.

After paying tribute to Mongolian history at a statue of Genghis Khan outside the State Palace early Sept. 2, the pope invoked the "Pax Mongolica" of the 13th and 14th centuries when peace reigned throughout the conquered lands of the vast Mongolian empire.

In a country with only about 1,450 Catholics, just a few hundred people came to Sükhbaatar Square outside the State Palace to see the pope.

Yu Qian, a doctoral student from Beijing, was there "because every morning I do tai chi here and I saw they were having a ceremony." He said he is not religious.

A group of a dozen Catholics from mainland China, wearing jackets that said, "Love Jesus," also were present, but would not give interviews and folded up their small Chinese flags when television cameras approached.

An office of the Chinese Communist party issued an order forbidding Catholics from going to Mongolia for the papal visit. Cardinal-designate Stephen Chow Sau-yan of Hong Kong told Catholic News Service Sept. 1 that no bishop or priest from the mainland would be in Ulaanbaatar, but a few faithful might be able to cross the border.

Taize Brother Han-Yol came from South Korea. "As the Holy Father comes for this little flock, I said I have to go and stand in solidarity," he said. The pope's visit "is an encouragement not only for Catholics here, but for all Catholics of the region, including China."

Cecilia Uugantsetseg, a Mongolian who became Catholic in 2004, was in the square early with her four children. "I've been waiting for Papa Francis," she said.

After the formal welcome in the square, Pope Francis held a private meeting with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh in a ceremonial ger, sometimes referred to as a yurt.

The two leaders then joined several hundred leaders of Mongolian society and members of the diplomatic corps to exchange speeches. Both spoke of the need for peace.

"May Heaven grant that today, on this earth devastated by countless conflicts, there be a renewal, respectful of international laws, of the conditions of what was once the 'Pax Mongolica,' that is, the absence of conflicts," the pope said.

He quoted a Mongolian proverb: "The clouds pass away, but the sky remains."

"May the dark clouds of war be dispelled, swept away by the firm desire for a universal fraternity wherein tensions are resolved through encounter and dialogue, and the fundamental rights of all people are guaranteed," the pope said.

"Here, in this country so rich in history and open to the sky, let us implore this gift from on high, and together let us strive to build a future of peace," he said.

Mongolia, the president said, "stands for maintaining and strengthening global and regional peace and security and is pursuing a peace-loving, open, independent and multi-pillared foreign policy," including by "actively engaging with our immediate and third neighbors."

Both Pope Francis and Khürelsükh also noted Mongolia's long tradition of religious tolerance.

Pope Francis presented himself as "a pilgrim of friendship," one who arrives "quietly" in the world's most sparsely populated country.

In Mongolia's population of about 3.3 million people, Buddhism and shamanism are considered the traditional religions, although religious practice still has not recovered from 70 years of strict communist rule. Christianity is considered by many to be a foreign import or even a threat to the nation's traditional culture.

In his meeting with national leaders, Pope Francis paid tribute to values all people of good will should share. And, urging care of the natural environment, he pointed to the wisdom modern Mongolians could draw from "the holistic vision of the Mongolian shamanic tradition, combined with the respect for all living beings inherited from Buddhist philosophy."

Both, he said, "can contribute significantly to the urgent and no longer deferrable efforts to protect and preserve planet Earth."

Religious values, he said, also are an antidote to "the threat represented by the consumerist spirit that nowadays, in addition to creating great injustices, leads to an individualistic mindset that cares little for others and for sound established traditions."

But the pope also expressed hope that ongoing negotiations between the Vatican and Mongolia as well as new legislation might make it easier for Catholic missionaries to enter the country and build up their work not only evangelizing, but also providing education and a wide variety of social services.

 — Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service