Sébastien Le Belzic / Photo credits: ANDREW MEDICHINI / POOL / AFP
Pope Francis leaves Mongolia on Monday after a three-day visit to this small landlocked country where Catholicism is still embryonic. But the purpose of his visit to Ulaanbaatar, the capital, was above all to send a message to neighboring China.
More than the 1,400 Catholics of Mongolia, it was the 12 million Chinese Catholics that the Pope addressed during this trip. A very political trip by Pope Francis, who has made it his mission to renew diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Beijing, relations that have been suspended for 72 years. A message of peace that he recalled again on Sunday during a high mass in the capital, Ulaanbaatar.
A long way to conquer the Communist Party
“I wish the best to the people [de Chine], to move forward, to always progress. To Chinese Catholics, I ask you to be good Christians and good citizens”, he said with fervor. A little sentence heavy with meaning since he asks Chinese Catholics to also respect the Communist Party.
The party that sees the hand of the West behind Catholicism and refuses to recognize the authority of the pope for the appointment of bishops. The long march of Chinese Catholics therefore passes through Ulaanbaatar. The objective is to lay the foundations for a trip by the Holy Father to communist China.