Pope Francis meets with the Catholic community in Mongolia

 

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Pope in Mongolia: Church must constantly proclaim Jesus

Speaking with Catholic ministers in Ulaanbaatar’s Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, Pope Francis recalls that Jesus is the Good News whom the Church must proclaim to all peoples, saying that God frequently speaks to us in a "low whisper that takes its time."

By Christopher Wells

In his first encounter with members of the local Church in Mongolia, Pope Francis invited pastoral ministers to “taste and see that the Lord is good”, reminding them that the joy and goodness of the Lord remain with us, helping us to see things in a new way.

He invited the Bishops, priests, missionaries, religious women and men, and lay pastoral workers gathered in Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral to spend their lives for the Gospel, which he described as “a beautiful way to define the missionary vocation of Christians,” especially in Mongolia.

Spending our life for the Gospel

After recalling the history of the Church in Mongolia, the Holy Father looked to the present, asking, “Why should anyone spend his or her life for the Gospel?”

The answer, he said, is because “God has made Himself visible, able to be touched and encountered in Jesus."

Jesus, he insisted, “is the Good News, meant for all peoples, the message that the Church must constantly proclaim, embody in her life, and ‘whisper’ to the heart of every individual and all cultures.”

He noted the many charitable initiatives undertaken by the Church in Mongolia, which serve as a “calling card” for Christians and have earned them the respect and esteem of their countrymen. He also encouraged them to “continue on this path, which has proved so fruitful and beneficial for the beloved Mongolian people.”

Seeing Jesus in those we serve

Pope Francis pointed to the source of the Church's ministry, reminding pastoral workers in Mongolia to return always to Jesus. Remaining close to the Lord, he said, leads us “to see Him in the faces of those we serve.”

This service, he continued, is what is needed in Mongolia, where people have a sense of the sacred and are looking for genuine witness. He noted that Christians are not sent to spread political theories, but to bear witness “to the newness of [Jesus’] relationship with His Father, who is now ‘Our Father’.”

Communion in the Church

Reflecting on the nature of the Church, Pope Francis explained that the Church is poor in a worldly sense, sustained only by faith and the power of the Risen Lord, and called to deliver “a message of mercy and truth which is meant to promote the good of all.”

He insisted on the harmony that must exist in the Church, under the headship of Christ, emphasizing the role of priests in guiding the people and building up fraternity in the Mystical Body. At the same time, he reminded Mongolians that they are close to his heart, “the heart of Peter,” and that the Universal Church, in turn, is close to Mongolia, “in a great outpouring of ecclesial communion.”

In this regard, Pope Francis insisted on the role of the Bishop, saying that “it is important for all ecclesial elements to remain firmly united around the bishop, who represents Christ alive in the midst of His People, and to build up the synodal fellowship that we preach and that greatly assists the inculturation of the faith.”

Bearing witness to Jesus in Mongolia

The Holy Father encouraged Church ministers, and all Christians in Mongolia, to recognize “as the gift that you are” and the beauty of giving oneself to Christ, who calls them to bear witness in Mongolia to His love. They will do this, the Pope said, by cultivating communion and simplicity of life, by being close to the people and caring for them, and by bringing Jesus to the people by example of their lives.

Finally, Pope Francis encouraged the Catholic community in Mongolia to entrust themselves to Mary, “asking for a renewed zeal and an ardent love that tirelessly and joyfully bears witness to the Gospel.”

“Go forward!” he continued. “God loves you; He has chosen you and believes in you.” And the Pope said, “I am close to you, and I thank you most heartily” for their witness and for their lives poured out for the Gospel.

And in a final exhortation, he encouraged them to “persevere, be constant in prayer and creative in charity, steadfast in communion, joyful and meek in everything and with everyone.”

Saturday Saint of the Day

 

St. Antoninus

Feastday: September 2
Patron: of Pamiers; Palencia; Medina del Campo
Death: 4th century

Martyr and hermit. Antoninus is listed as a stonemason in Aribazus, Syria. He denounced the pagan practices of his fellow townspeople and went to live as a hermit for two years. Antoninus then returned to his village and destroyed the pagan idols. He fled the town and built a church in Apamea, Syria, where he was murdered. Both Apamea and Pamiers claim this saint.

Continue reading about St. Antoninus

Pope Francis offers his prayer intention for September 2023

 Pope Francis Prayer Intentions:

September:

For people living on the margins

We pray for those persons living on the margins of society, in inhumane life conditions; may they not be overlooked by institutions and never considered of lesser importance.

What is the status of the cause for beatification for Venerable Fulton Sheen

 

An update on the status of Fulton Sheen’s beatification cause

   By Tina Dennelly for CNA

Long Island, New York, Aug 31, 2023 / 09:25 am (CNA).

“Sheen is clean.”

That’s the message from Monsignor Jason Gray, executive director of the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation, regarding the status of the cause for beatification of “America’s bishop,” the late televangelist Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

“I think it’s safe to say that I don’t think any cause for beatification has been subjected to more scrutiny than Archbishop Sheen, both ecclesiastically and civilly,” Gray said in an Aug. 24 interview on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.”

“In all of this not only has nothing been found to impune Sheen,” he continued, “but I think his heroic virtues have been confirmed — as I would like to say, Sheen is clean — and we can prove that.”

After three years of legal battles, in 2019 the Archdiocese of New York, where Sheen was buried after his death in 1979, released Sheen’s body to the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, where Sheen was ordained and first served as a priest.

The action allowed Sheen’s cause to continue to move forward, and a date for beatification was set for Sept. 20, 2019 — the 100th anniversary of Sheen’s ordination to the priesthood.

However, Gray explained, at that time a waiver to the New York state’s statute of limitations on reporting of abuse cases was issued, allowing cases to go forward regardless of when alleged abuses occurred. Sheen, titular archbishop of Newport, Wales, was bishop of Rochester, New York, from 1966-1969.

“It really was not known at the time whether there would be new allegations of which we really knew nothing,” Gray told Arroyo, “so there was a concern that something might come forward, and so out of an abundance of caution the Holy See was hesitant [to move forward with Sheen’s cause].”

Gray said his team also received some documents that raised a question as to whether or not Sheen handled abuse cases improperly in the Diocese of Rochester. But after careful research and a presentation to the then-Congregation for the Causes of Saints, it was deemed Sheen handled them correctly. A date for beatification was then set for Dec. 22, 2019.

But then the New York attorney general’s office was investigating all the state’s dioceses, so, Gray said, “it was just considered more prudent to suspend the cause at the time.”

So Sheen’s cause was suspended indefinitely. But now that bankruptcy proceedings in Rochester are wrapping up, Arroyo asked: “What is the status now?”

“We actually employed a law firm in New York that works with the different dioceses in the state,” Gray said, “and we actually did a thorough review of every case that had been presented, and we were able to demonstrate that no case had been brought forward that in any way impugns Sheen.”

Gray added that in September 2022, a group from Peoria again went to the Vatican to meet with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin to present their research.

“Rome was actually very clear that there’s no problem in the Holy See with this cause,” Gray said. “The concerns have been raised on the other side of the pond — it’s members of the U.S. hierarchy.”

In the meantime, the New York attorney general’s report has yet to be released.

“Until we feel like there’s no doubts remaining — if it takes the attorney general’s report to demonstrate what we already know, what we’ve already proven — we want to go forward with the unanimous support of the entire bishops’ conference,” Gray said. “I’m sure that we’ll get there.”

For more information on Sheen’s cause, visit CelebrateSheen.com.

Watch the full “World Over” interview with Gray below:

Pope Francis in Mongolia with his eyes set on Russia and China

 

In Visit to Tiny Flock in Mongolia, Pope Has an Eye on Russia and China

The pontiff arrived Friday on a trip that the Vatican said was meant to encourage the fewer than 1,500 Catholics there. But it also brings him close to two great powers that have vexed him.

By Jason Horowitz

Reporting from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Pope Francis has long expressed a desire to visit Russia and China in hopes of healing the church’s historical rifts and ensuring the faith’s future in the populous East. On Friday, he came very close, landing in Mongolia, a country sandwiched between the two geopolitical giants, with a minuscule Catholic population that no pope has visited before.

“The inhabitants are few,” Francis acknowledged in brief remarks on the plane to Mongolia. But the country, which at times seems so vast as not to end, is also a place where the “culture is great,” he said.

On Sunday, he called the trip a “much-desired visit which will be an opportunity to embrace a church that is small in number, but vibrant in faith and great in charity.”

But many observers in and out of the church are wondering why Francis, who is 86 and often uses a wheelchair, traveled more than 5,000 miles to visit fewer than 1,500 Catholics, in a geographically vast nation where a good chunk of the largely nomadic population of 3.3 million knows very little about him, according to a pollster.

The answer, the Vatican has said, is that Mongolia, like other far-flung places Francis has visited, speaks to his priorities for the direction he wants to take the church, and his mission to improve cooperation and dialogue among the world’s religions. Francis also has ambitions to be heard on the secular stage, and by two world powers with which he has rocky relations, at a time of great upheaval.

The Vatican says the principal reason for the visit is to encourage the tiny community of Catholics, in keeping with his emphasis on drawing attention to the church’s peripheries.

More than 40 percent of Mongolians say they have no religious identity, according to census data. Of those who say they are religious, some 87 percent say they are Buddhist. About 5 percent are Muslim, 4 percent identify as adherents of shamanism and barely 2 percent are Christians.

Last year, Francis stunned many in the Vatican by elevating an Italian missionary in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, who has been in Mongolia for decades, to the exalted status of cardinal, and gave him a coveted spot in the Vatican’s powerful office for evangelization.

“It has been a gradual and slow growth,” the cardinal, Giorgio Marengo, 49, said, describing his experience in Mongolia. It has not, he said, been “very sudden or significant in a way in terms of numbers, but a constant little growth.”

But the numbers are still exceptionally small, and as a result, there appears to be less than the usual buzz over a papal visit.

“Nobody actually is talking about the pope,” said Sumati Luvsandendev, a leading Mongolian political analyst and opinion pollster.

Beyond meeting members of the small Mongolian church, Francis will also use a gathering with representatives from Mongolia’s mix of faiths to further his mission of interreligious tolerance.

Ulaanbaatar, which is heavily polluted and increasingly crowded because of internal displacement, will provide an opportunity for him to touch on the themes of migration and the environment that are core to his pontificate.

Mongolia’s suffering from climate change, exploitation by mining interests and even overproduction of cashmere by pasture-decimating goats will allow him to amplify his cry to protect the environment, in a nation where eagles and horses are core to the national identity, and where livestock outnumber people by about 20 to one.

The four-day visit to what Francis called the “heart of Asia” began at Chinggis Khaan International Airport, where he received a welcome gift of dried yogurt instead of the customary gift horse — sometimes symbolic, sometimes real — given to visiting dignitaries. He was met on the tarmac by soldiers in red and blue uniforms and gold helmets, then wheeled into a Hyundai flying a Vatican flag, which took him to the residence of the head of the local church, where he will stay.

The pope’s visit will include meetings with Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai and other authorities, Catholic charity groups and local clergy. But it also brings Francis close to the two neighboring leaders, President Vladimir V. Putin in Russia and President Xi Jinping in China, who have vexed his ambitions in and out of the church.

In 2018, Francis, seeking more access to China, made a largely secretive deal with the government to ensure more collaboration over the nomination of bishops. The pope typically appoints bishops, but the Communist government has long insisted on naming its own to more closely control the state-run church there.

Conservatives and advocates for human rights protested the Vatican’s decision to acknowledge some of those bishops and, they say, legitimize the practice — though the deal, designed to narrow the divide between the state- and Rome-led churches, recognized Francis as the leader of the church and gave him an important role in the process.

Some experts suggest that the Vatican hopes that Mongolia, because of its location and close economic and political ties to China, could act as an intermediary to improve relations. In his flight to Mongolia, Francis passed over Chinese airspace, allowing him to send a customary telegram of greetings to Mr. Xi, a rare direct communication between them.

Mongolia’s neighbor to the north, Russia, has proved even more nettlesome. At the beginning of his pontificate, Francis pursued steps to reconcile a more than 1,000-year schism between the Eastern and Western church by meeting in Cuba with Patriarch Kirill I, the leader of the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church.

But Russia’s war in Ukraine has blown up that effort, and vexed Francis, who has chastised Kirill as being the “altar boy” of Mr. Putin.

Francis’ lingering ambitions to keep the dream of reconciliation alive, experts say, has led to some awkward moments of softening and kind words for Russia. The latest came in recent days, when in comments made by video to Catholic youth in St. Petersburg, Francis praised 18th century Russian rulers and the Great Russia they helped create — an empire that Mr. Putin has invoked in framing his invasion of Ukraine.

“Never forget the legacy,” Francis said. “You are the heirs of Great Russia: Great Russia of saints, rulers, Great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire — great, enlightened, of great culture and great humanity.”

The Vatican did not publish those remarks, which were off the cuff, but they were heard in a clip circulated by religious agencies and Russian news media. They prompted criticism from Ukrainians, who have long been frustrated by the pope’s efforts to maintain a sort of neutrality in the hopes of playing an eventual role in a peace deal, an ambition geopolitical experts say is a fantasy.

Pope Francis did not intend to “glorify imperialistic logic,” the Vatican said on Tuesday.

Many Mongolians still feel culturally close to Russia after 70 years of Soviet-influenced communist rule that suppressed religion. The country opened up after the fall of Communism, established relations with the Vatican in 1992 and enshrined religious freedom in its Constitution.

But while Mongolia’s neighbors perhaps increased the resonance of the pope’s trip, the Vatican on Tuesday made it clear, when asked about possible meetings with the Chinese or Russians while there, that the focus was on Mongolia.

“The trip is Mongolia,” said Matteo Bruni, the pope’s spokesman. “Pope Francis will go principally to talk to them.”

But the world’s powers were clearly on his mind. When a reporter on the flight who showed him a Ukrainian soldier’s canteen, apparently perforated with shrapnel, asked if diplomacy was hard, Francis said, “Yes, you can’t imagine how hard it is,” and added, “And at times it takes a sense of humor.”

China will not allow Bishops or any other Catholic to go see the Pope in neighboring Mongolia

 

China forbids Catholic bishops and faithful from joining Pope Francis in Mongolia

No bishop from mainland China has been allowed to travel to Mongolia as Pope Francis makes the first-ever visit by the leader of the Catholic Church to this vast landlocked country sandwiched between China and Russia.

America has learned from Vatican and other informed sources, who were not authorized to speak on the record, that although authorities in Beijing have allowed the ITA Airways plane on which the pope is traveling to fly over China’s airspace on the flight from Rome to Ulaanbaatar and on his return flight, they have not allowed any bishops or Catholics from mainland China to travel to the Mongolian capital for the pope’s visit. The order prohibiting the bishops and Catholics from traveling to Mongolia to join the pope came from the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party.

China and the Holy See signed a provisional agreement on the nomination of bishops in mainland China on Sept. 22, 2018, and a dialogue has been ongoing between the two sides, even though the relationship is not without difficulties. The prohibition will be a source of disappointment to Pope Francis and the Holy See, particularly given that since the signing of the provisional agreement, which has been renewed twice—in October 2020 and October 2022—all the Catholic bishops in mainland China are now in communion with the pope, including those that had originally been appointed by the government without Vatican approval. The order makes clear that the mainland Chinese bishops do not enjoy the same freedom that bishops in other countries have today to meet the pope or take part in universal church events.

At the same time, America has learned that three Chinese bishops from Hong Kong and Macau have arrived in the Mongolian capital. Cardinal John Tong Hon, the emeritus bishop of Hong Kong, has come with a group of 30 Catholics from that diocese. Hong Kong’s current bishop, Cardinal-elect Stephen Chow, S.J., has also arrived, as has the bishop of Macau, Stephen Lee Bun-sang.

Chinese authorities have not given a reason for prohibiting mainland bishops from traveling to Mongolia, an informed source told America. Given the good relations between Mongolia and China, the order appears to reflect not only the uneasy current state of Sino-Vatican relations but also the Chinese Communist Party’s fear of religion, in general, and Christianity, in particular. Though Mongolia has pursued a more independent policy since it regained its full independence in the early 1990s (the country was a satellite state of the Soviet Union for much of the 20th century), it nevertheless enjoys friendly relations with China, and China in turn has become Mongolia’s biggest trade partner and source of foreign investment, according to the United Nations.

Bishops from several Asian countries will also join Pope Francis in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city where almost half of the 3.4 million citizens of Mongolia live and where the pope will remain until Sept. 4 when he returns to Rome. These bishops include Cardinal Yeom Soo-Jung and other bishops from South Korea, Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij from Thailand, and bishops from Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan. The cardinal archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar, Charles Maung Bo, president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, is also expected to be present in Mongolia for the pope’s visit. 

In addition to many of the more than 1,400 Mongolian Catholics from the nine parishes in this vast land where the Catholic Church has come to exist again over the past 30 years, there will also be Catholics from Korea, Hong Kong and other countries in the congregation of some 3,000 faithful who will attend the Mass that Pope Francis will celebrate at the Steppe Arena in Ulaanbaatar on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 3.

On Sunday morning, an important ecumenical and interreligious event will take place at the capital city’s Hun Theatre. Catholics will join representatives of other religions, including those of Mongolia’s Tibetan-influenced Buddhism, which is the religion of some 50 percent of the population.

On the almost nine-and-a-half hour flight from Rome to Ulaanbaatar, Pope Francis will be accompanied by Cardinals Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state; Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue; Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Ecumenical Relations; and Archbishops Edgar Peña Parra, substitute for the secretariat of state, and Paul Gallagher, secretary for relations with states. Cardinal Luis Tagle, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Evangelization of Peoples, has already arrived in the Mongolian capital. Sixty-six Vatican-accredited media personnel, including America’s Vatican correspondent, are also accompanying the pope on the plane, together with Vatican security and medical personnel.

Pope Francis has arrived in Mongolia

 

Pope arrives in Mongolia to visit 'people of a great culture'

Pope Francis has arrived in Mongolia‘s capital, Ulaanbaatar, effectively kicking off his 43 international Apostolic Journey that ends on 4 September.

By Linda Bordoni - Ulaanbaatar

The ITA Airways flight carrying Pope Francis to Mongolia, a “land of silence”, he said chatting to journalists on board the plane after take-off on Thursday evening, “a land so vast, so big. It will help us understand what it means: not intellectually but with the senses“, landed shortly before 10 am local time.

READ ALSO

31/08/2023

Pope Francis kicks off Apostolic Journey to Mongolia

The Pope was welcomed at Ulaanbaatar‘s international Chinggis Khaan airport by Monsignor Fernando Duarte Barros Reis, Chargé d‘affaires at Mongolia‘s Apostolic Nunciature, and by the Ambassador of Mongolia to the Holy See, Ms Davaasuren Gerelmaa, and then by Church and government delegations, awaiting him on the tarmac.

The Mongolian State Honour Guard proudly held rank in their red, blue and yellow uniforms and iron helmets that recall Mongolian warriors of ancient history.

During a brief welcome ceremony at the airport, a young Mongolian woman in traditional dress offered the Pope a cup containing “Aaruul“ - boiled yoghurt – made from the milk of cattle, yaks and camels, and symbolizing the nomadic culture of the Mongolian people as it one of their most common travel provisions.

Pope Francis graciously accepted the cup and took a big bite of curd.

The Pope is scheduled to rest on Friday after the long flight. His official meetings and events begin on Saturday morning.

Papal telegrams

As is customary in his Apostolic Journeys, on his way to the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar, Pope Francis wired greetings to the leaders of each country he flew over, including President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China.

In his message, the Pope said: "I send greetings of good wishes to Your Excellency and the people of China as I pass through your country's airspace en route to Mongolia. Assuring you of my prayers for the wellbeing of the nation, I invoke upon all of you the divine blessings of unity and peace."

On Friday, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, said the Pope's blessing reflected “friendliness and goodwill”, noting that China and the Holy See had maintained contacts in recent years.

"China is willing to continue to walk in the same direction with the Vatican, conduct constructive dialogues, enhance understanding, accumulate mutual trust, and promote the process of improving the relationship of the two sides," Mr. Wang said.

Pope Francis also sent telegrams to the leaders of Italy, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Türkiye, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, which he visited in on 13-15 September 2022 to attend the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.

In his message to Italian President Sergio Mattarella, the Pope accompanied his greetings with wishes “for a fruitful commitment to the common good and with prayers to God to support those who work with solidarity initiatives”.  

The Church in Mongolia

The East Asian nation the Pope has chosen to visit during his 43rd Apostolic Journey abroad, is the second largest landlocked country in the world (after Kazakstan). Its tiny, traditionally nomadic population, counts less than 3.5 million people; less than 2 percent are Christians.

After 70 years of communist regime, a satellite nation of the USSR, Mongolia underwent a peaceful revolution in 1990 and established a multi-party democracy. It adopted a new Constitution that guarantees religious freedom.

That’s when the Catholic missionaries who had been exiled during the years of communism came back into the country with the task of rebuilding the Church from scratch. Today there are no more than 8 parishes and about 1,500 baptized Catholics.

But they are welcome and integrated and appreciated by authorities and by the people also thanks to the many social, health care and educational programmes they run for the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and the abandoned.

The young Church is headed by the College of Cardinals’ youngest Cardinal, Giorgio Marengo, whom Pope Francis elevated to Cardinal during the Consistory in August 2022.

The visa issue

One issue the missionaries hope will be placed on the table in the wake of the Pope’s visit regards the visas they need to be able to live and work in the country.

Despite their commitment to social services, the missionaries - many of whom have worked in the country for years and learned the language - receive only short-term visas and have to go abroad every three months without knowing whether they will be allowed to come back. For every single (expensive) missionary visa, the government requests the missionaries employ five local people.

Mongolia’s nuclear-weapon-free status

In a world ruptured by war and the threat of nuclear catastrophe, Mongolia proudly upholds its “nuclear-weapon-free status”.  In 2022, Mongolia celebrated the 30th anniversary of the status with a regional round-table gathering scholars and experts in Ulaanbaatar to discuss the importance, challenges and prospects of Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZ) development.

In 1992, Mongolia, as a State committed to non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in all its aspects and to achieving nuclear disarmament, declaring its territory a nuclear-weapon-free zone and proposing to have that status internationally guaranteed. Mongolia’s initiative was welcomed by nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon States alike.

It is still working to consolidate and strengthen that status.

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The environmental challenge

The Pope’s visit to Mongolia comes as he drafts the second part of his encyclical, Laudato si': On Care for Our Common Home, and the country has an important role to play in the environmental challenges of the times.

On the one hand, it has to urgently tackle the severe pollution problems caused by the mining industry that is exploited by foreign conglomerates, and by the fact that increasingly many poor nomadic people have flocked to the overpopulated city of Ulaanbaatar that today, hosts half the population, and burn coal and plastics in their traditional ger tents during the cold winter months, resulting in extremely poor and hazardous air quality.

On the other, Mongolia is called to protect its unique and precious ecosystems. The vast country that stands at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, occupies six different ecological zones. Mongolians uphold their ancestral land as “the second lung of the planet” noting that as the Amazon rainforest absorbs the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, Central Asia filters the water that irrigates the rest of Asia.

Mongolian authorities are well aware of these issues and co-partner with different international organizations to implement sustainable development programmes.