Programme, logo and motto of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Visit to Mongolia

By Linda Bordoni

During a historic visit to Mongolia, Pope Francis will meet with political authorities, he will address representatives of the Catholic Church and participate in an ecumenical and interreligious meeting, he will meet with charity workers and celebrate Holy Mass in a sports arena.

A statement released on Thursday by the Holy See Press Office lists the events that make up the Pope’s 43rd international apostolic journey.

The news that the Pope had accepted the invitation of the President of Mongolia and local Church authorities was announced in June, together with the dates of the visit: 31 August to 4 September 2023.

According to the schedule released by the Press Office on Thursday, 6 July, Pope Francis will depart from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport on the evening of Thursday, 31 August to arrive at Ulaanbaatar’s “Chinggis Khaan” International Airport on Friday, 1 September at 10 am local time when a welcome ceremony will take place.

The Pope will stay in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, throughout the visit.

The Programme

On Saturday, 2 September, the Holy Father will be greeted at a welcome ceremony in Ulaanbaatar’s Sukhbaatar Square before paying a courtesy visit to the President of Mongolia at the State Palace

Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh, also referred to as Khürelsükh Ukhnaa, is the 6th and current president of Mongolia, beginning his term on 25 June 2021 after winning the 2021 Mongolian presidential election.

Pope Francis will then make his first official discourse during a meeting with Authorities, civil society and the Diplomatic Corps in the “Ikh Mongol” hall of the State Palace.

Following this, he will meet with the Chairman of the State Great Hural (Parliament of Mongolia) and with Prime Minister, Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene.

In the afternoon of Saturday the Pope will meet bishops, priests, missionaries and consecrated persons as well as pastoral workers whom he will address in the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral.

On Sunday, 3 September, the Pope will participate, in the morning, in an Ecumenical and Interreligious Meeting in Ulaanbaatar’s “Hun Theatre.”

On Sunday afternoon he will celebrate Holy Mass in the “Steppe Arena” winter sports stadium.

On Monday, 4 September, the last day of the Pope’s visit, he will inaugurate a charity center – the House of Mercy – and meet with staff and volunteers of the organization, before bidding farewell during a Farewell Ceremony at the “Chinggis Khan” airport.

He is scheduled to depart at noon local time and arrive in Rome the same day in the late afternoon, making up for a six-hour time difference between Mongolia and Italy.

"Hoping Together”

Releasing the motto of the apostolic journey - Hoping Together – the Holy See Press Office explained that it was chosen to emphasize “the double meaning of the Holy Father's Apostolic Journey to Mongolia: that of a pastoral visit and of a state visit".

“Hope”, a purely Christian virtue, a statement added, is one that is also widely shared in non-Christian circles. “By associating it with the adverb ‘Together’, the motto “underscores the importance of bilateral cooperation between the Holy See and Mongolia.”

Hoping Together represents a common ideal and also an element that will characterize the journey.

"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 universal Church", the Press Office said.

The logo

The Press Office statement also elaborated on the logo that features a map of Mongolia outlined in the red and blue, the colours of the national flag.

Within the borders is the shape of a ger (a traditional Mongolian dwelling), from which yellow smoke (the colour of the Vatican) flows upwards.

To the right of the ger is a cross. The ger and the cross are contained between two vertical inscriptions, in traditional Mongolian language, which echo the motto  - "Hoping Together").

The first Pope to visit Mongolia

Pope Francis is the first Pope to visit the East Asian country that borders Russia and China. With just 3.3 million inhabitants it is the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign state.

After the collapse of China’s Qing dynasty in 1911, Mongolia achieved independence from the Republic of China in 1921 after which it operated as a satellite state of the Soviet Union.

After a peaceful Democratic Revolution and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the current social democratic Mongolian’s People’s Party reshaped the country’s political landscape and introduced a new constitution.

The end of religious repression in 1990 allowed for a rebirth of religious freedom and in the majority Buddhist nation, Catholic missionaries returned to rebuild the Church in 1992. There are currently nearly 1,500 baptised Catholics in the country, administrated by Italian Cardinal Giorgio Marengo.