ASIA/MONGOLIA - Cardinal Marengo: we will treasure the visit of Pope Francis

Ulaanbaatar (Agenzia Fides) - "A few months ago it was unthinkable that one day we would find ourselves here saying: 'The Holy Father will visit us soon'. It is with these words that Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, expressed the feeling of grateful surprise with which the small Catholic community is preparing to receive Pope Francis, who will visit Mongolia from 1 to 4 September.
This morning, Friday, July 7, Cardinal Marengo presented and illustrated in Ulaanbaatar the program, the logo and the motto of the papal trip, released yesterday by the Holy See Press Office (see Fides, 6/7/2023). During a meeting that saw the participation of missionaries present in Mongolia, the Apostolic Prefect recalled the scope and the many suggestions of what will be the first visit of a Pope to a country, which currently has about 1,500 baptized Catholics. The Cardinal - according to a report of the meeting published by the Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar and sent to Fides - recalled that Pope John Paul II had planned to visit Mongolia in 2003, when the plans were canceled due to the worsening of his health conditions. "Here we are, 20 years later, and about 800 years after the first direct contact between the Holy See and the Mongol emperors, when Pope Innocent IV sent his envoy, the Franciscan Giovanni di Pian del Carpine, to personally meet the famous Mongols and start a peaceful dialogue". The Cardinal also made a point of recalling the work of the bishop who preceded him in Ulaanbaatar and of those who, in recent decades, have participated in the rebirth of the Catholic Church in Mongolia: "We are reaping the fruits of the great missionary work of Bishop Wenceslao Padilla ( who died of a heart attack in September 2018, ed) and many other missionaries, and we are preparing - also in their name - for this historic event".
During the meeting, the meanings of the logo and the motto of the trip, "Hoping Together" were also explained. The Cardinal focused on the implications of the trip linked to dialogue with other communities of faith, in a country with a Buddhist majority where the Catholic Church only began to flourish again 31 years ago.
During his trip, the Pope will also meet people engaged in charitable activities and officially inaugurate the House of Mercy, a reception facility with a clinic designed to meet the immediate needs of homeless people and victims of domestic violence. The House of Mercy - reads the statement issued by the Apostolic Prefecture - "represents one of the first major projects launched by the indegenous Catholic Church in a country where missionary works have sustained the faith". And certainly - remarked Cardinal Marengo - the Church in Mongolia will be able to treasure the experience of welcoming the Successor of Peter, "growing in this authentic sense of being one body, well rooted in the country". (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 7/7/2023)

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