Holy Father finds his ideal Church in Mongolia

Sep 15, 2023

By Loup Besmond de Senneville
They all gathered for a family photo, which almost looked like a scene from a film. On leaving Sts Peter and Paul Cathedral in Ulaanbaatar September 2, the tiny Catholic community of Mongolia — one of the smallest of any country in the world — formed an honour guard around Pope Francis. They were accompanied by Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, the country’s only bishop. Francis had just addressed them in the church shaped like a Mongolian yurt and now they were shouting over and over Viva il Papa! Some of those present had tears in their eyes and were still trying to process this historic moment. The entire Church of Mongolia was there, it seemed.

During his Sept 1-4 visit, Francis encountered what he has consistently portrayed as an ideal form of Church — a Church at the peripheries of the world, as he likes to call it, in a country where Catholics are only a tiny minority. But numbers, he told them, don’t matter.

“Being little is not a problem, but a resource,” the Pope said while speaking inside the cathedral. “God loves littleness, and through it He loves to accomplish great things,” he added.

The Church in Mongolia was founded on works of charity. The first missionaries cared for orphans and the sick and opened homes for people with disabilities. A few hours before leaving the country on Sept 4, the Pope told the people that Catholicism is developing here by adopting “the ‘style' of service that Jesus taught us”.

Francis likened the Church in Mongolia to “the first Christian community” that carried out “Jesus’ words” in its time. The Pope insisted that the Church cannot grow through proselytism, an ideology he has always vigorously rejected. Nor is there any question of using social works in a spirit of conquest, he asserted.

“I encourage you to continue along this path, which has proved so fruitful and beneficial for the beloved Mongolian people,” he said in the cathedral. “May you always be close to the people... personally caring for them, learning their language, respecting and loving their culture, not allowing yourselves to be tempted by worldly forms of security,” he added.

Everything in Mongolia reminded Francis that he was far from Rome. Even when, on several occasions, he found himself presenting the Catholic Church, in a simple way, to political leaders who obviously knew very little about it.

“The Catholic Church, as an ancient institution present in almost every country of the world, embodies a spiritual tradition, a noble and fruitful tradition that has contributed to the development of entire nations in numerous fields of human activity, from the sciences to literature, from the arts to political and social life,” he insisted in his very first speech in the Mongolia, which was at the presidential palace on Sept 2 before the country’s leaders.

Pope Francis’ affection for Mongolia’s tiny Church was also concretely demonstrated during the four-day visit by the constant presence of Cardinal Marengo at his side. The apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, the only bishop in a country that doesn’t even have a single diocese, is one of the principal architects of the Church’s presence in the region. The 49-year-old Italian missionary was named a cardinal last year and remains the Catholic Church’s youngest prelate with the red hat. -- LCI (https:// international.la-croix.com/)