Pope arrives in Ulan Bator. Trip banned for Chinese bishops

Reception at Genghis Khan airport, official meetings begin tomorrow. On the plane to journalists, "The silence of this great country will do us good." During the flight the telegram to Xi Jinping: "I assure my prayers for the well-being of China and invoke unity and peace." But despite the Agreement with the Holy See, bishops from Inner Mongolia and other provinces in mainland China will not be allowed to attend the historic event.

Ulan Bator (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis arrived this morning at 10 (when it was still 4 in Italy) at Genghis Khan airport in Ulan Bator for his apostolic journey which will keep him in the country of the steppes until Monday 4.

Welcoming him - together with the guard of honor - was the foreign minister of Mongolia, Mrs. Batmunkh Battsetseg, together with the apostolic prefect - Card. Giorgio Marengo – and the bishop of Almaty, Msgr. José Luis Mumbiela Sierra, president of the Bishops' Conference of Central Asia.

As expected, it was a simple ceremony, without official speeches but with a significant gesture for the local culture: a woman dressed in the deel, the traditional Mongolian dress, offered the pontiff a cup of dry yak yogurt, a food of the local tradition.

Pope Francis then travelled to the seat of the apostolic prefecture where he will rest for the whole day after the long journey: the official welcome ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow morning in the central Sükhbaatar square, dominated by the great monument to Genghis Khan. This will be followed by the meeting with the authorities and the diplomatic corps and - later - with the local Church in the cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.

Pope Francis dwelt on the meaning of this visit, briefly greeting journalists during the flight from Rome late yesterday afternoon.

“To go to Mongolia is to go to a [numerically] small people in a vast land," he said. "Mongolia seems to have no end, and its inhabitants are few, a people few in number of a great culture. I think it will do us good to understand this silence, so vast, so big. It will help us understand what it means: not intellectually but with the senses. Mongolia is to be understood with the senses. Let me say that it would do us good perhaps to listen a to a little of Borodin's music, which was able to express what this breadth and greatness of Mongolia means."

As usual, during the flight, the Holy See sent congratulatory telegrams to the heads of state of the countries overflown (in this case ten). These also included the People's Republic of China, where the plane passed through the troubled Xinjang province just before arriving in Mongolian airspace.

“I“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,” – wrote Francis in a text almost identical to that of all the other countries . “Assuring you of my prayers for the well-being of the nation, I invoke upon all of you the divine blessings of unity and peace."

To this message, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, speaking in the daily briefing, replied that "China is ready to continue working with the Vatican to engage in constructive dialogue, improve understanding, strengthen mutual trust".

Meanwhile, the American Jesuit magazine America, citing Vatican sources, has reported that - despite the invitation addressed to them by Card. Marengo, as with all the Bishops' Conferences of Asia - no bishop of mainland China has received permission from the Beijing authorities to travel to Ulan Bator for this historic event.

It is worth remembering that a lively Catholic community resides in the nearby Chinese province of Inner Mongolia and that one of its bishops - Msgr. Antonio Yo Shun, bishop of Jining - in 2019 was indicated as the first of the six appointments fruit of the provisional agreement between Rome and Beijing on the appointment of bishops (although in reality it had already been approved by the Holy See in 2010).

On the other hand, the cardinal designate Stephen Chow will be present in Ulan Bator with a delegation of 30 Catholics from Hong Kong as will the bishop of Macao Msgr. Stephen Lee Bun-sang.

• Ulan Bator
• Pope Francis
• China
• China-Vatican Agreement
• Xi Jinping