2023-06-03 15:51:00
June 3, 2023 / 8:51 a.m.
The Vatican announced this Saturday that Pope Francis will visit Mongolia, an Asian country that borders Russia and China, from August 31 to September 4 of this year 2023.
the holy father will become the first Pontiff to visit this Asian country where more than 3 million inhabitants live, of which only 1,300 are Catholics.
Pope Francis will spend 4 days in the world’s smallest sovereign country, from Thursday, August 31, to Monday, September 4, when he will return to Rome.
So far, no further details have been released about the program that it will be his 43rd Apostolic Journey.
It should be noted that, initially, the Holy Father was expected to make this visit on his scheduled trip to Marseilles (France) at the end of September. However, as confirmed by the Vatican, the Pontiff will travel to both destinations on separate dates.
The first mission in Mongolia was in 1922 and was entrusted to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Due to communist rule, religious freedom was suppressed soon after, until 1992. Mongolia’s first native priest was ordained in 2016.
This trip is one more example of the desire of the Holy Father to visit countries with Catholic minoritiesto bring its inhabitants its closeness and that of the entire Catholic Church.
In the last consistory of cardinals, held at the end of August 2022, Pope Francis named Giorgio Marengo, Apostolic Administrator of Ulaanbaatar (Mongolian capital) and member of the Consolata Missionaries, a cardinal.
The youngest cardinal in the world, who has served as a missionary in Mongolia for almost 20 years, assured ACI Prensa that his experience of first evangelization “has a lot to say to the general Church.”
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú is a Spanish journalist, correspondent for ACI Prensa in Rome and the Vatican, with four years of experience in religious information.
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