Sunday, September 03, 2023

Pope Francis: ‘Mongolia Is A Symbol Of Religious Freedom’

I know this is my third post on this trip. However, this is a highly unusual trip by a Pope. It is the first ever visit to Mongolia of all places.

There is a lot of symbolism in this visit!

"In an address to government authorities in Mongolia’s State Palace in Ulaanbaatar on Sept. 2, the pope asked that heaven may grant the “earth devastated by countless conflicts” a renewal and respect for international laws. 

“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 in the speech to Mongolia’s democratic leaders and diplomatic corps. ...
The square is built on the spot where Damdin Sükhbaatar, a Mongolian revolutionary hero, declared Mongolia’s independence from China in 1921.
Catholic pilgrims from Hong Kong and mainland China were among the small crowd of a few hundred people who welcomed the pope to the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign country. Some of the visiting Catholics from China wore masks and sunglasses to shield their identities, a testament to the stark difference in religious freedom in the country on the other side of Mongolia’s southern border. ...
“Mongolia today, with its broad network of diplomatic relations … plays a significant role in the heart of the great Asian continent and on the international scene,” the pope said.
The Vatican’s diplomatic contacts with Mongolia date back nearly 800 years.
Pope Francis recalled how Friar John of Pian del Carpine visited the third Mongol emperor, Guyug, in 1246 as an envoy of the pope and presented to the Grand Khan an official missive from Pope Innocent IV.
The letter in response bearing the seal of the Grand Khan in traditional Mongol letters can be found in the Vatican Library today. Pope Francis presented a copy of this historic document as a gift to Mongolia’s leaders as a “sign of an ancient friendship that is growing and being renewed. ...”
Today Mongolia is home to about 1,450 Catholics, far fewer than 1% of the country’s 3.3. million people. ..."


Pope Francis receives a scarf as a gift from Choijiljav Dambajav, abbot of the Buddhists' Zuun Khuree Dashichoiling Monastery in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, during an ecumenical and interreligious meeting at the city's Hun Theatre Sept. 3, 2023.


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