From August 31 to September 4, 2023, Pope Francis will make the first ever papal visit to Mongolia. The Pontiff intends first and foremost to address the Mongolian people and the small local Catholic community. However, his trip to the land of the Khans, a former socialist republic landlocked between Russia and China, also appears to be a strategic move for the Holy See.

The Holy See’s diplomacy in this type of country appears to be “peripheral,” to use a term dear to Pope Francis. The Pope is trying to assure them that he is capable of integrating Asian cultural challenges. Good relations with Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam, which are closely linked to their large neighbors, could serve as a model for future rapprochement with the latter.

In Mongolia, the Pope will continue his journey along the Silk Road, and attempt to take another step towards Beijing. In a speech given on the occasion of the Jubilee Year 2000, Cardinal Jozef Tomko, in charge of the missions, welcomed the first baptisms celebrated in Mongolia. Immediately afterwards he declared, “…and at the same time, we are waiting for the hour of the great China.”

In Mongolia, despite the very small Catholic population (estimated at less than 1,500), the Pontiff chose to award the cardinal’s biretta to the very young missionary Giorgio Marengo. Territorially speaking, from an ecclesiastical perspective Mongolia is linked to the vast area of Central Asia, making the Cardinal-Prefect of Ulaanbaatar the vanguard of the Church on this Silk Road that China is trying to revive. (source: aleteia)