As Pope Francis departs for his pastoral visit to Mongolia, Vatican News provides readers with some basic information on the country’s ecclesiastical community.
(Vatican News Network) Pope Francis made a historic visit to the Republic of Mongolia from August 31 to September 4. As Bruni, director of the Holy See News Office, explained, the center of the Pope’s trip was to meet the local Catholics meeting groups. Vatican News provides some basic information on the ecclesiastical community in the country.
church origin
Christianity has a long history in Mongolia and can be traced back at least to the tenth century AD, when a traditional Christian group in Syria was passed down, which was called “Nestorianism” in China.
In 1245, Pope Innocent IV sent Franciscan Giovanni di Pian del Carpine as a special envoy to visit the Mongolian Khan. From the descriptions of guests from Berang, we know that Karakorum, the capital city established by Ögödei Khan in 1235, is a multicultural and multi-religious city, in which Nestorianism also existed. The first Western missionary to be admitted to Helin was the French Dominican priest Barthélémy de Crèmone, who arrived in Helin in 1253.
In 1922, Pope Pius XI established the Apostolic Vicariate of Outer Mongolia. After the birth of the pro-Soviet Mongolian People’s Republic in 1924, all Christian groups in the territory were abolished until the establishment of the new Mongolian Republic in 1992. The New Mongolian Republic established diplomatic relations with the Holy See. For this purpose, the Holy See established the Ulaanbaatar Mission and entrusted it to the Congregation of the Holy Heart of Mary (CICM) in Belgium. In 2002, St. John Paul II appointed Fr. Wenceslao Padilla, a Filipino member of the Sacred Heart of Mary, as Apostolic Prefect of Mongolia. Fr Huang was ordained bishop in the Ulaanbaatar Cathedral in 2003.
A young, poor but vibrant church
When the first three missionaries of the SCM arrived in the Mongolian capital in 1992, there were not even a single Catholic, and the work of “building the church” had to start from scratch amid language and cultural difficulties. Their missionary work, as well as the apostolic work of other religious orders that arrived in Mongolia at the same time, was also financially supported by the Korean Catholic Church.
According to Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, the history of the Mongolian Church in the past 30 years can be roughly divided into three stages. The first decade, from 1992 to 2002, was characterized by small churches with great growth; the second decade saw the emergence and rooting of the first local Christian groups; The 2016 ordination of Mongolian priest Joseph Enkhee-Baatar.
Currently, according to the latest statistics, there are about 1,500 faithful (in 1995 there were only 14) spread over eight parishes and one mission. There are 25 priests in the pastoral diocese, including 2 Mongolians, 6 seminarians, more than 30 religious members, 5 religious lay members and 35 missionaries. Pastoral staff come from 30 countries.
church work
The missionary work of the Mongolian Local Church is mainly active in the fields of society, education and health. In 2020, a technical vocational school, two primary schools and two kindergartens, a clinic providing treatment and medicines for the poorest, a center for the disabled and two nursing homes for the abandoned and impoverished elderly will be completed. Each parish has also launched the Caritas Mongolia charity project, opening canteens and public showers for the public, after-school services, and courses for women.
Good relations with government authorities and other religions
The work of the Mongolian Church in promoting human development is appreciated by local authorities and has helped to strengthen good relations between Mongolia and the Holy See. In 2022, the Ambassador of Mongolia to the Holy See and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary-General of the Department of Relations between the Holy See and States and International Organizations, signed an agreement to open the Vatican Archives to Mongolian researchers and strengthen the relationship between the two parties. Cooperation in the field of culture. The Mongolian local church also has good relations with other religions, especially with the country’s Buddhist leaders. On May 28, 2022, Cardinal Marengo personally accompanied the Mongolian Buddhist leaders on their first official visit to the Vatican.
pastoral challenge
Cardinal Marengo emphasized that the first challenge facing the pastoral work of the local Church in Mongolia is to help the faithful deepen their faith and make it more and more relevant to their daily lives. The second challenge is to promote communion and fraternity between missionaries of religious orders and other Christian communities. Finally, continuing to courageously proclaim the Gospel to Mongolian society remains a challenge, as 39 percent of the population still professes no religion after decades of communist atheist regime rule.
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2023-09-01 10:49:44
