The official program of the pontiff’s trip, which will take place from August 31 to September 4, has been published. The welcome before the monument to Genghis Khan, in the hockey stadium the mass with the faithful. During the visit, he will inaugurate the House of Mercy that the small local Church established to welcome the poor.
Vatican City () – “Wait together”. This will be the motto that will mark the apostolic trip of Pope Francis to Mongolia from August 31 to September 4. It was announced today by the Vatican Press Office along with the logo that recalls the ger, the traditional Mongolian shop, and the detailed program. The days will be marked by institutional meetings, Mass with the very small Catholic community (barely 1,500 Catholics) and meetings with other religions, but also by an important sign of hope: in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, the House of Mercy will be inaugurated, a structure to welcome the poor that is highly desired by the local Church.
It will be a journey that will take Francis to the heart of the steppe, in an immense country but with only 3.3 million inhabitants, nestled between Russia and China. The pontiff will leave Rome at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 31, on a night flight that, after almost ten hours, will take him to Ulan Bator, the only Mongolian city he will visit on the trip. The route will already be significant because it is very likely that the plane will fly over the People’s Republic of China, over the tormented region of Xinjang. Francis will land in the Mongolian capital at 10 a.m. (local time) on Friday, September 1, a day without official meetings or speeches so that the Pope can rest.
On Saturday, September 2, the day will begin with an official welcome ceremony in the central Sukhbaatar square, where a large monument commemorates the figure of Genghis Khan. The morning will then be dotted with meetings with the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of Parliament, as well as a speech before the authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps at the State Palace. In the afternoon, instead, the Pontiff will speak with the priests, consecrated men and women, missionaries and pastoral agents of this frontier Church that was reborn just thirty years ago: the meeting will take place in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, consecrated in 2003 and whose circular architectural structure recalls precisely the ger Mongolian.
On Sunday, September 3, at the Hun Theatre, there will be a meeting with representatives of other religions in a country where -having ended the era of State atheism- today close to half of the population declares itself to be Buddhist and there is also a large Muslim minority. Then, in the afternoon, mass at the Steppe Arena, the indoor facility where ice hockey games are played in Ulan Bator. Finally, on the morning of Monday, September 4, the inauguration of the House of Mercy will take place, in the northern part of the city, where there used to be a school run by the nuns of Saint Paul of Chartres, which has been transformed into a temporary shelter for the poor.
Commenting on the motto of the trip, the Vatican Press Office stressed that the theme of hope unites the two sides of the trip, which is both a pastoral visit and a state visit, with the aim of bilateral cooperation between the Holy Headquarters and Mongolia. “The presence of the Holy Father represents for this small portion of the people of God a sign of great hope and encouragement and, on the other hand, the Church that is in Mongolia, with its smallness and marginality, can offer a sign of hope for the Church universal”.
As for the logo, the map of Mongolia, outlined in the colors of the national flag (red and blue) contains within it a ger from which a yellow smoke (the color of the Vatican) rises. to the right of ger a cross stands out with two vertical inscriptions in the traditional Mongolian language, which echo the motto “wait together”.
