Cardinal Marengo, apostolic prefect of Ulan Bator speaks: “The visit is a sign of attention to a minority Church and to a people rich in culture”
Pope Francis’ visit to Mongolia? “An extraordinary occasion, a sign of attention to a minority and suburban Church which means a great deal and which encourages us”. Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, apostolic prefect of Ulan Bator, does not hide his enthusiasm for the journey which will take the Pontiff from 31 August to 4 September among the 1,500 Christians of the great Central Asian country. “Here we joke that all the faithful could be in the souvenir photo with the Pope”, smiles the Consolata missionary. Behind him, in his office, is a framed panel with the incipit of the 1992 Constitution, which establishes the freedom for citizens to profess any faith, or none at all. “It is the fact that allowed bilateral diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Mongolia and opened the doors, 31 years ago, to the arrival of the first three Catholic missionaries”, comments Father Marengo, who has been in the country since 2003 and became last year , at 48, the youngest member of the College of Cardinals.
This historic visit, with not inconsiderable geopolitical implications given the location of the country, squeezed between Russia and China, will represent – is the cardinal’s hope – “a step forward in the path of relations between Church and State”. A front on which “Mongolia is a virtuous example in this area of the world“.
How is your relationship with the institutions?
«From the beginning it was good and we continue to feed it in the dialogue with the authorities at local and national level, above all to explain what the Catholic Church is by emerging from some simplifications: as a legacy of socialism there remains a certain suspicion of religion. Instead, we want to make it clear that we are a reliable partner for the state, not a threat. In this we recall the beauty of the Mongol past: already at the time of the empire founded in 1206 by Genghis Khan there was a certain tolerance and there were Nestorian Christians. The Franciscan Giovanni da Pian del Carpine was the first Westerner to set foot in the imperial capital, Karakorum: a fact known in the world of culture, among historians and archaeologists, but not at the level of popular knowledge».
On the other hand, Mongolia is far from the European imagination: what are the aspects of this people that most strike you?
“It is full of human, spiritual and cultural wealth. I really admire the resilience of the Mongols, used to enduring so many climatic and geographical extremes: they have internalized this ability to resist the shocks of life and matured a great wisdom, handed down for generations. And they have a marked sensitivity for the religious aspect».
How would you describe this spirituality?
«Shaped by shamanism and Buddhism, with a series of symbols, a figurative art, a musical heritage that seventy years of rigid communism have not managed to eradicate. Not even with violence: Mongolia is the Buddhist country with the highest number of martyrs, about fifteen thousand monks massacred during the terrible socialist purges. In general, for the Mongols life cannot be interpreted only on the basis of what is visible, palpable and calculable».
What is instead the face of the Mongolian Church?
«Its beauty is the freshness of faith: Christians, all of the first or second generation, embrace the Word of God and genuinely seek to live by its light. Pope Francis, speaking to the bishops of Central Asia, used the image of the “sprout in the steppe”: a nascent Church that requires particular care, depth, commitment from us missionaries”.
What are the spaces for dialogue with Buddhism?
“Are many. Our first bishop, Monsignor Venceslao Padilla, had already committed himself in this sense and for us missionaries dialogue represents one of the central aspects of our presence. In recent years, then, I have also experienced a growth in relations at an official level: today there is an interreligious group that includes Catholics, Evangelicals, Mormons, Buddhists, but also Muslims, Bahais and a Jewish exponent. With Buddhism there remains a privileged channel, as evidenced by the first official visit to the Vatican last year by a delegation from Mongolia”.
On what is the proclamation of the Gospel based here?
“70% of the Church’s activity is made up of social works, but through this taking care of the other with the evangelical spirit, which is that of gratuitousness, we try to incarnate the message of Jesus, so that people can recognize it” .
How do you try to insert this message into the local culture?
«The first vehicle is the language, used for the celebration. Then we live the key moments of existence, such as birth and death, trying to integrate traditional elements into the liturgy, with the help of the Mongolian faithful. We are also rethinking music, with local instruments. And the examples of openness to native culture are countless».