2023-09-02 04:28:33
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia (AP) — Pope Francis hailed Mongolia’s tradition of religious freedom dating back to the time of its founder, Genghis Khan, on Saturday, kicking off the first visit by a pontiff to the Asian nation with a call to peace and put an end to the “insidious threat of corruption”.
Francis met with President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh in a typical Mongolian ger, or yurt—a round tent—set up inside the state palace, and wrote a message in the guest book saying he was visiting Mongolia, “a young country and ancient, modern and rich in traditions”, as a pilgrim of peace.
“May the great clear sky that spreads across the Mongolian land illuminate new paths of brotherhood,” he wrote.
Francis is visiting Mongolia to minister to his young Catholic community of 1,450 believers and to conduct a diplomatic foray into a region where the Holy See has long had turbulent relations, with Russia to the north and China to the south.
Although Christianity has been present in the region for hundreds of years, the Catholic Church has only had an authoritative presence in Mongolia since 1992, after the country dumped its Soviet-allied communist government and enshrined religious freedom in its Constitution.
In his remarks, Francis praised Mongolia’s tradition of religious freedom, noting that such tolerance existed even during the period of the vast expansion of the Mongol empire across much of the world. At its height, the empire stretched as far west as Hungary to become the largest contiguous land empire in world history.
“The fact that the empire could cover such distant and diverse territories for centuries is testimony to the remarkable ability of its ancestors to recognize the outstanding qualities of the peoples present in its immense territory and to put those qualities at the service of common development.” Francisco told the president, diplomats and cultural leaders in statements at the State Palace. “We must value this model and rethink it today.”
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