Pope Francis appeared to reassure China on Saturday during a gathering of Catholic missionaries in Mongolia, saying that governments have “nothing to fear” from the evangelizing work of the Church.
“Governments and secular institutions have nothing to fear from the evangelizing action of the Church because it has no political agenda,” the 86-year-old pontiff said in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital.
The Church’s message of “mercy and truth” “is intended to promote the good of all,” he added.
During this first visit to Mongolia, a landlocked country between Russia and China, the pope seemed to want not only to encourage the modest Catholic community (about 1,400 members) which lives among a predominantly Buddhist population of more than three million of souls but also seize the opportunity of his presence at the gates of China to try to improve relations between the Vatican and Beijing.
The Chinese Communist Party is wary of any organization, particularly religious, that could threaten its authority. He has long remained suspicious vis-à-vis the Holy See because of its potentially political influence on Catholics in China, which does not maintain diplomatic relations with this micro-state.
This did not prevent the Chinese government and the Vatican from renewing an agreement last year on the thorny question of the appointment of bishops.
Arrived the day before in Ulaanbaatar, François was previously welcomed during an official ceremony on a red carpet with the honors of Mongolian horsemen parading in metal armor.
On the huge Sukhbaatar square which houses the heart of Mongolian power in Ulaanbaatar, he greeted, alongside President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, more than a thousand faithful and curious people present to watch for his arrival.
François praised the “wisdom” of Mongolia, many of whose inhabitants have lived for centuries in harmony with nature, in particular its nomadic people “respectful of the delicate balance of the ecosystem”.
The sovereign pontiff also advocated an “urgent and now unavoidable commitment to the protection of planet Earth”.
Mongolia is one of the world’s largest coal exporters and the air in its capital city is consistently among the most polluted in the world.
Large swathes of Mongolian territory are also threatened with desertification due to climate change, overgrazing and mining.
While hailing Mongolia’s religious tolerance and pacifist foreign policy, the pope slammed corruption before the nation’s leaders, where a major mining scandal sparked widespread protests in December.
Corruption poses “a serious threat to the development of any human group, feeding on a utilitarian and unscrupulous mentality that impoverishes entire countries”, Francis warned.
In Sukhbaatar Square, many had come from afar in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Pope.
In order not to be identified, many of the Chinese who made the trip covered their heads and hid their faces behind surgical masks and sunglasses.
“We must keep a low profile and above all not say that we are here for the pope. At customs, we were asked if we were Catholics, we said that we were doing tourism”, confides a Chinese national who prefers conceal his name.
“It’s as if we were seeing Jesus,” said one of his compatriots who traveled in a group “especially to see the pope.”
“Many Catholics in China wanted to come but they couldn’t. We are blessed,” he told AFP, also on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
AFP was able to hear a Chinese visitor advising one of his compatriots not to speak with journalists, for fear of trouble on their return to China.
Stephen Chow, the archbishop of Hong Kong, who is to be made a cardinal in September by Pope Francis, was also present.
“I am not Catholic but […] I wanted to see him in person. He seems to be a wonderful person,” exclaims smiling Enkhtur Dagvadorj, a Mongolian who says he is “very happy”.
Galina Kroutilina, 62, left Moscow with a friend to see the pope. “We arrived an hour ago by train,” the Orthodox Russian, who wears a gold cross around her neck, told AFP.
After more than 6,000 kilometers of journey, “we are here because at the top of the mountain is God”, she underlines. “But there are many ways to get there.”
On Sunday, the pope will address an inter-religious meeting which the rector of the Russian Orthodox Church of Ulaanbaatar is expected to attend with a delegation and then preside over a mass in a newly built arena for the practice of ice Hockey.
This trip is a real test of endurance for the head of the Catholic Church, who continues to travel a lot despite an abdominal hernia for which he was operated on in June and knee pain which forces him to move around in a wheelchair.
02/09/2023 17:00:22 – Ulaanbaatar (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
