Pope Francis on Sunday called on Chinese Catholics to be “good citizens” on the last day of his visit to Mongolia during which he tried to improve relations between the Vatican and Beijing.
Surrounded by the bishop of Hong Kong Stephen Chow and his bishop emeritus John Tong Hon, the 86-year-old pontiff said he sent “a warm greeting to the noble Chinese people”.
“To Chinese Catholics, I ask you to be good Christians and good citizens,” he added.
These comments, not foreseen in the official speech, seem to mark a new attempt by the pope to reassure the Chinese communist government.
Beijing is wary of any organization, particularly religious, which it believes could threaten its authority and does not maintain diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
The day before, the sovereign pontiff had already appeared to send a message to China, without naming it explicitly: “Governments and secular institutions have nothing to fear from the evangelizing action of the Church because it does not has no political agenda”.
With this unprecedented papal visit to Mongolia, a landlocked nation between China and Russia, Francis had two objectives: to reach a remote region where Catholicism is recent and still not widespread, and to take advantage of his presence at the gates of China to establish links with Beijing .
Many Chinese pilgrims had made the trip, braving the risk of reprisals in their country.
It was “quite difficult to come here”, told AFP, in the crowd who came to attend mass on Sunday, a Chinese woman from Xi’an (north) who did not give her name.
She said the two organizers of her group’s pilgrimage had been arrested in China.
“Let me tell you that I’m ashamed to raise the (Chinese) national flag,” she said. “But I have to hold it and let the pope know how difficult it is for us.”
On Sunday, the pope lent his support to the modest Catholic community of Mongolia – 1,400 members including 25 priests, for some three million inhabitants – by celebrating mass in a newly built ice hockey arena in Ulaanbaatar, the capital. .
At the end of it, he launched a “bayarlalaa!” – “thank you” in the Mongolian language – to his “Mongolian brothers and sisters”.
Earlier in the day, the pope had met ten religious leaders in the small Hun theater, which looks like a traditional Mongolian yurt.
Representatives of Buddhism and shamanism – the two majority beliefs in Mongolia – as well as Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and the Russian Orthodox Church were notably present.
“Being together in the same place is already a message: religious traditions, in their originality and diversity, represent a tremendous potential for good at the service of society,” said the Jesuit pope.
Citing Buddha and Gandhi, he called on “the leaders of nations” to choose “the path of meeting and dialogue with others”.
The pope is due to leave Mongolia on Monday at midday.
His visit “proves the solidarity of humanity”, said Natsagdorj Damdinsuren, the head of a Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, interviewed by AFP on Sunday. “I am just a humble Buddhist monk, but for me, war and conflict are the most tragic events of our time. I guess other religions agree with me,” he said. added.
Coming to attend the mass, Nomin Batbayar, an 18-year-old Mongolian student, hailed the pope as “a truly authentic person, that’s why there are a billion people in the world who believe in him and support him”.
“China doesn’t really support it, but its people are here today,” she noted.
At the mass, a Chinese woman from the northern province of Hebei said she felt “blessed” to see the pope. “Having our own religion does not mean that we are against our country,” she said. “We are actually praying for our country.”
Freedom of religion in Mongolia, a country that became democratic in 1992, contrasts with the situation in neighboring China where it remains hampered.
This did not prevent the Chinese government and the Vatican from renewing an agreement last year on the thorny issue of the appointment of bishops, criticized by some as a dangerous concession from the Holy See in exchange for its presence in the country.
Asked about the apparent references to Beijing in the pope’s speech, Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Chow assured AFP that the pontiff’s message was intended “to the whole world”.
“The Church currently… really has no intention of becoming political and that is important for us,” he said. “Otherwise we lose our credibility as an institution speaking of love and truth”.
Arrived Friday in Ulaanbaatar, François had praised the “wisdom” of Mongolia and its inhabitants but had worried about corruption and pollution, two evils which are eating away at the country.
03/09/2023 16:22:34 – Ulaanbaatar (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
