Pope Francis’ next international trip will bring him to Mongolia, a democracy sandwiched between the authoritarian powers of Russia and China.

When Pope Francis lands in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar on Sept. 1, he will become the first pope in the history of the Catholic Church to visit Mongolia, but the trip could have geopolitical implications beyond the country’s small population of just 1,450 Catholics.

Mongolia is a post-Soviet democracy that continues to have strong ties with its geographic neighbors China and Russia as well as an important diplomatic relationship with the United States, which Mongolia calls its “third neighbor.”

In Pope Francis’ first speech at Mongolia’s State Palace, the pope will address not only Mongolia’s democratic leaders but also the local diplomatic corps, which includes embassy officials from Russia, China, and North Korea. This speech in particular presents an opportunity for the pope to send a message to Moscow and Beijing.

Russian state media has already signaled that it is paying close attention to the pope’s trip. The Kremlin-owned Tass news outlet even suggested the possibility of a papal plane layover in the Moscow airport as a “neutral” location for Pope Francis to meet Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.

During Mongolia’s era of one-party Communist rule in the 20th century, its political and economic ties with the Soviet Union were very strong, and Russia continues to be an essential energy supplier for the Asian country.

The Soviets gave Mongolia’s capital its current name, Ulaanbaatar, meaning “Red Hero” in Russian, in 1924 in honor of communism. The Mongolian language has used a Cyrillic-based alphabet similar to Russian since the 1940s, although the government has announced plans to revert to the country’s traditional vertical script by 2025.

Today Mongolia imports 90% of its oil products from Russia and has abstained from U.N. votes that condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine has come up in many of the pope’s speeches during his international trips in the past year, including in a speech to government leaders in post-Soviet Kazakhstan, where the pope called for an end to the “senseless and tragic war” in Ukraine.

Due to its unique role as a Eurasian democracy, Mongolia has been put forward as a site for potential peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Pope Francis’ travel to Mongolia comes amid a Vatican peace mission led by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who has made diplomatic visits to Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington, and was also asked by the pope to continue the Vatican’s “peace offensive” in Beijing.

China

Mongolia shares a nearly 3,000-mile border with China, which is also Mongolia’s most significant economic partner. Historically, the Mongols conquered all of China during the 13th century and later Mongolia was a part of China’s Qing dynasty for more than two centuries, so one could argue that this is the closest the Catholic Church has ever come to a papal trip to China.

Chinese Cardinal-elect Stephen Chow of Hong Kong has said that he will travel to Mongolia for the pope’s trip with a delegation of about 30 Hong Kong Catholics. Earlier this year, Chow became the first Hong Kong bishop to make an official visit to Beijing in nearly 30 years.

While Pope Francis is in Mongolia, the Chinese Communist Party will implement new religious restrictions, titled “Regulations on the Management of Religious Activity Sites,” which come into force on Sept. 1. The restrictions ban the display of religious symbols outdoors, require preaching to “reflect core socialist values” and limit all religious activities to government-approved religious venues, according to China Aid.

The Chinese religious freedom restrictions will affect Christians and Buddhists alike, including in the regions of Tibet and Inner Mongolia, which could be a potential talking point for the Buddhist-Catholic interreligious dimension of Pope Francis’ Mongolia trip. The pope, who has previously received a delegation of Mongolian Buddhist leaders at the Vatican, is scheduled to take part in an interreligious meeting in Ulaanbaatar on Sept. 3.

Vatican-China relations have had a rocky year. Last month, the Vatican announced Pope Francis’ decision to approve the appointment of the bishop of Shanghai who was previously installed by Chinese authorities without the Holy See’s approval. It was the second unauthorized appointment by Beijing since November 2022.

China currently dominates Mongolia’s trade, with Mongolia sending 86% of its exports to China. Coal accounts for the majority of China’s imports from Mongolia. During the Mongolian prime minister’s six-day trip to China this summer, the prime minister spoke about taking China-Mongolian relations “to new heights” and signed a contract for the construction of a $1.8 billion railway connection to further expand trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, a boost to China’s future Mongolian coal imports.

Notably, Mongolia also agreed to deepen cooperation to mine rare earth metals with its “third neighbor,” the United States, during an official state visit by the prime minister to Washington earlier this month. The U.S. also signed an “Open Skies” agreement with Mongolia, paving the way for Mongolian Airlines to fly to the United States for the first time.

Pope Francis is set to travel to outer Mongolia over the upcoming Labor Day weekend. During the four-day trip, the pope is scheduled to meet with government leaders, engage in interreligious dialogue, and offer Mass for the country’s small Catholic population.

BY Courtney Mares

Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis on Sunday described his visit later this week to Mongolia, the first-ever pilgrimage by a pontiff to the east Asian country, as a much-desired occasion to encounter a “noble, wise” people.

Speaking to the public in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said the trip would also be an opportunity to embrace the Catholic community there, describing the church in Mongolia as “small in numbers but lively in faith and great in charity.” The pilgrimage is also an opportunity "to meet up close with a noble, wise people,'' he said.

Francis departs on Thursday, returning to Rome four days later. There are fewer than 1,500 Catholics in Mongolia, where some 3.2 million people live in one of the world’s least densely populated countries.

The pope said Mongolia has a great religious tradition that “I will have the honor to know,” especially in the context of an inter-religious event during the trip on Sept. 3.

The largest percentage of Mongolia's people are Buddhist.

In his remarks, Francis said he wanted to address “you, brothers and sisters of Mongolia, telling you that I am happy to travel to be among you as a brother of all."

He also asked the faithful in the square to accompany him in prayer during his trip.

Upon discussion of the flight requests submitted by foreign and domestic air transporters, the Civil Aviation Authority of Mongolia (CAAM) approved the Winter Flight Schedule for the period from October, 2023 to March 30, 2024.

In accordance with the international schedule of take-off and landing flights, flights of 14 domestic and foreign air carriers to 19 destinations are planned for the winter season of 2023-2024. The total planned flights have increased by 35.5 percent compared to the pre-pandemic period of 2019 and by 61.5 percent compared to 2022. The number of flights of the MIAT state-owned JSC raised by 133.3 percent, and the number of flights of Aero Mongolia LLC increased by 13 percent compared to the previous year, reports the CAAM.

Compared to the last winter season, Krasavia and IrAero Airlines of Russia, Jeju Air of the Republic of Korea, and VietJet Air, the Vietnamese private company, have been added to the flight schedule for the winter season of 2023-2024. It is also planned to launch new flights to Vietnam's Nha Trang, and China's Manchuria and Hailar.

MIAT JSC plans to fly to a total of ten destinations, including Hong Kong, Beijing, Phuket, and Moscow, and Hunnu Air LLC is planning to fly to three destinations, in it Hailar and Manchuria.

As for the local destinations, the two air transporters will operate domestic flights. MIAT JSC is scheduled to fly to Dornod, Khovd, Gobi-Altai, Uvs, Zavkhan, Bayan-Ulgii, Khuvsgul, and Dalanzadgad in Umnugobi, and Aero Mongolia LLC is scheduled to fly in the directions of Bayan-Ulgii, Khovd and Khuvsgul.

As of the end of June of 2023, the bank savings reached MNT 14.4 trillion, increasing by MNT 435.5 billion (3.1 percent) from the previous month and by MNT 560.1 (4.1 percent) billion compared to the same period of the last year.

MNT 12.6 trillion (87.7 percent) of the tugrug savings are the deposits of citizens, and MNT 1.8 trillion (12.3 percent) are the deposits

of enterprises and organizations.

Foreign currency deposits reached MNT 5.2 trillion, decreasing by MNT 21.2 billion (0.4 percent) from the previous month, and increasing by MNT 669.5 billion (14.8 percent) from the same period of the last year, reports the National Statistics Office.

On August 24, the first flight of Japan Airlines (JAL) from Tokyo to Ulaanbaatar landed at Chinggis Khaan International Airport. 128 Japanese tourists arrived in Mongolia on the first flight.

Yoshiyuki Yamazawa, head of services at the Chinggis Khaan International Airport, said “Chinggis Khaan International Airport is a symbol of peace between Mongolia and Japan and a new airport created by the joint development of the two countries. A major Japanese airline operating flights to this airport is a big advantage, and we expect it to start expanding internationally”.

The next Tokyo-Ulaanbaatar flight will land on August 28. The works of increasing the number of flights, providing news and information to tourists from Japan will be organized, and the works of welcoming and farewell to arriving tourists with a positive impression will be organized.

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office quietly dropped two long-running investigations into mining firms Rio Tinto Plc and Eurasian Natural Resources Corp., in another setback for an agency that’s expended years prosecuting suspected corruption across the commodities industry.

The SFO said Thursday it had closed its 2017 Rio Tinto investigation into allegations of corruption in Guinea after an internal review found it was not in the public interest to continue, according to an update on its website. No charges against individuals had been made.

Separately, the agency also announced it had closed a decade-long criminal investigation into ENRC citing “insufficient admissible evidence to prosecute.” The probe, one of the prosecutor’s longest, has been mired in controversy and allegations of reckless investigations against the SFO. It had focused on suspected bribe payments to secure mining contracts in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 2009 and 2012.

The SFO, which both prosecutes and investigates the most serious white-collar crime in Britain, has a long list of recent missteps in the last few years. It has been accused of botching investigations, seen trials collapse, and a government-requested review that found the SFO’s failure in its Unaoil bribery case were caused by “cultural issues” in the agency.

Rio Tinto said in a statement after the announcement that it is “committed to conducting business to the highest standards of integrity.” The Australian Federal Police’s investigation into the case remains ongoing.

Since the SFO began its criminal investigation into ENRC, the Kazakhstan mining firm has initiated at least 16 legal proceedings in the US and UK against lawyers, investigators, contractors, journalists, a former SFO official and the SFO itself, according to anti-graft campaigner Spotlight on Corruption.

“ENRC is pleased that the SFO has finally closed its investigation and that the SFO is taking no further action in respect of this matter,” a spokesperson said.

(By Katharine Gemmell)

Far, far away from the madding crowds is Mongolia, a country that’s filled with biodiversity but not people. If you have never been, what with this country being off the beaten path for so long, it is definitely worth checking out—especially if you’re a bit of an introvert who values physical and mental space from other people. Mongolia is a hidden gem that offers the perfect blend of nature, culture and solo activities. If you need some more convincing, here are a few reasons why Mongolia is a must-visit destination for those who like to travel but hate crowds.

Animals outnumber people

As of the last count in 2021, there are around 67 million animals to nearly 3.5 million people in Mongolia, and the sparseness of people compared to animals is evident from the moment you step out of the Chinggis Khaan International Airport.

The airport is located nearly 50 kilometres away from the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, and throughout the journey from the airport to the city, you are more likely to encounter a motley crew of animals—including horses, camels, sheep, cows—grazing along the rolling steppes beside the road than a traffic jam.

Travellers can get an even better idea of the diverse fauna of Mongolia once they travel to its vast countrysides. To the north is the Altay-Sayan mountains, which are home to snow leopards, reindeers, Siberian musk deer and much more; while the Central Asian Gobi region boasts Gobi bears, Bactrian camels, donkeys and the once-extinct-in-the-wild Przewalski’s horse, a wild breed native to Mongolia.

To catch a glimpse of these horses, which are locally known as “takhi horses”, one must head to Hustai National Park in Central Mongolia, where nearly 400 of these horses still thrive after a handful of them were reintroduced in the area in the 1990s. Look out for the white underbelly that is distinctive of this breed, and don’t be surprised if they come very close to you—the lack of tourists has made them unafraid of humans.

Other parts of Mongolia are also rich in animals, even in the vast Gobi desert. In fact, if you travel to that area during spring, keep your eyes peeled for migratory birds such as the Siberian cranes that often make a pit stop in the desert’s oases on their route from Russia to China.

Avoid overcrowded hotels

Forget about hotels and embrace your inner nomad by staying in a ger, the traditional tents that many Mongolian people live in. Also known as yurts, these cosy homes are made of felt and canvas and offer a unique lodging experience. Mongolia’s climate may be rough in some seasons—snowy and terribly cold in winter, and windy and unpredictable in spring—but the tents’ circular shape, its construction materials and wooden latticed walls and roof are designed to help them hold their own against the elements.

Several modern camps also offer glamping experiences, which means you can revel in the traditional aesthetics of the yurts from the outside, but without missing out on modern amenities like heaters and toiletries once you’re inside.

But no matter where you’re staying, the best part for introverts is that you won’t have to worry about bumping into other guests or hotel staff—it’s just you and the great outdoors.

Nature at its best

Mongolia is home to some of the most breathtaking natural landscapes in the world—from the rolling hills in its centre to the towering peaks of the Altai Mountains in the north. But what makes it a veritable paradise for introverts is that you can take in these amazing vistas in tranquillity, without being surrounded by thousands of fellow tourists or risk being poked by selfie sticks. The vast empty spaces can evoke loneliness in people who love human company, but for those who appreciate solitude, they might relish the feeling of being one of the few people on earth.

Fewer people also mean much less pollution of any kind, and one of the beautiful ways this manifests itself is in the clear view of starry skies at night. Just imagine gazing up at the stars from the comfort of your ger (Mongolian tents have skylights) with nothing but the twinkling stars and sound of the wind to keep you company.

Solo activities in nature

While doing nothing and gazing at the stars might appeal to a more laid-back traveller, those looking for adventure will appreciate the range of solo activities in nature available in Mongolia. These include hiking, photography, camel riding, horseback riding, biking and off-roading.

The Gobi desert, for instance, is the perfect backdrop for an off-roading adventure. The fifth largest desert in the world, its rolling sand dunes are interspersed with small hillocks, rocky mountains, old canyons and oases, making it a diverse and challenging terrain for petrolheads. For a slower yet equally exciting adventure, one can also choose to ride on Bactrian camels, which are native to the steppes of Central Asia. They are double-humped, which has an unexpected benefit for the rider—you can hang on to the first hump for dear life if things get too bumpy.

Immerse yourself in art and culture

If you are not into adventure sports but would rather seek calm and culture in a quiet museum, Mongolia has you covered there as well. There are plenty of museums in Ulaanbaatar, as well as in other places, which give you a comprehensive insight into the country’s rich heritage and culture.

Moreover, many monasteries from the 16th and 17th century have survived and are strewn across the country—from the Erdene Zuu Monastery in central Mongolia’s Orkhon valley to the Gandan monastery in Ulaanbaatar. The best part? There are hardly any queues anywhere, so you can appreciate the intricate art and sculptures within the monasteries at your own pace and without feeling rushed. What more can an introverted traveller desire?

(source: tatler asia)

Following the adoption of the Education Package Law, an Education New Revival Forum was held yesterday on August 25, 2023. The Official Representative of the Hungarian MOZAIK Digital Education and Learning Platform in Mongolia O. Chingguun explained about digital textbooks.

- Would you, please, tell us about your plans to introduce a platform for digitizing secondary school textbooks in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science?

- In our country, digital transition is proceeding rapidly. We have started cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science to introduce Hungary's internationally recognized MOZAIK Digital Education and Learning Platform to students of the 6th-12th grades of Mongolian secondary schools. This platform is designed in line with international standards for the development of teachers and students.

- What are the technical and personnel possibilities for introducing digital textbooks?

- We are providing a solution for accessible and effective implementation of a good program that meets international standards at the lowest cost. First, all school textbooks will be translated into Mongolian. Then, we will train 36,217 teachers nationwide how to use the platform. Some of us will go to Hungary and learn how to digitize textbooks; then we will train 15-20 trainers and spread further. It takes 60 hours to train one teacher to work with the platform. In cooperation with the General Department of Education, it is possible to implement it in stages, teach remotely and in classrooms, and conduct integrated training for further spread.

- When do you plan to start introducing digital textbooks?

- If we can reach an agreement with the Ministry of Education and Science, it is possible to wholly introduce within six months. We can complete the translation of all textbooks into Mongolian by the third quarter of this academic year, or from February 1 of the next year, make 100% of them into the platform and introduce throughout the country. We plan to use digital textbooks remotely, more interactively, with clear and up-to-date solutions.

- Is it possible to use the platform without Internet?

- Yes. We are making the textbook so that it can be used on all smart devices, including mobile phones, tablets, and computers. Based on consultation with the Education Information Center, the extension can be used from all types of smart devices without data loss. To this end, you can first download the textbook from the Internet and use it in offline mode. For example, the textbook for the 8th grade of chemistry, which generally contains pictures and texts, will be analyzed and digitized to make it easier to comprehend. By developing our teachers in cooperation with the "Medlee" School, which provides distance education to the children of 321 soums of Mongolia, distance education can be conducted more efficiently on a high quality level.

- What are the advantages of digitizing textbooks?

- The Platform has a huge content pool with explanations, videos, various tools and audios. We can add Mongolian culture heritage, customs, songs, music, and paleontology to the platform, which meets international standards, and present to the children of the world. We live in a time when education is not unreachable. The aim is to deliver this to all Mongolian children around the world. For Mongolians living in foreign countries, there is a risk of falling behind in respect of native language. They will get an opportunity to learn Mongolian language and culture through distance learning. The results are visible after 3-4 years of use.

- Is there any experience of introducing it in other countries?

- This platform has been released in 40 languages in 46 countries. With the introduction of this platform in our country, Mongolian will become the 41st language.

Long before Ser-Od Bat-Ochir became one of the most prolific distance runners in the world, he planted himself on the start line of the Hong Kong Marathon in 2002. At the time, Ser-Od had never run anything longer than 20 kilometers — or about 12 miles — even in training.

“I didn’t know what I was doing,” he said.

That hardly prevented him from running with a lead group of Kenyans for the first few miles, after which the marathon imposed its remorseless brand of agony. As he labored to the finish line, well out of contention, Ser-Od came to an important realization: Marathons are long and difficult.

“I just thought, I don’t want to do this again,” he said. “But here I am.”

Yes, here is Ser-Od, now 41, and there is no one else quite like him. A five-time Olympian, he has now run in 74 marathons and represented Mongolia at every major international competition since 2003.

On Sunday morning, with the support of his wife, Oyuntuya Odonsuren, who moonlights as his coach, Ser-Od will make his 11th straight appearance at the World Athletics Championships when he tackles the streets of Budapest in the men’s marathon.

In the process, Ser-Od has become a uniquely popular figure in the marathon world: a self-made runner who emerged from obscurity to become a near-permanent presence on the global stage.

“Tough as nails,” said Tim Hutchings, a broadcaster and former world-class runner, “and a gentle, smiling soul.”

Ser-Od, whose 5-foot-7 frame has the smooth aerodynamics of a hang glider, still has outsize goals. He hopes to improve on his personal best of 2 hours 8 minutes 50 seconds. He hopes to place among the top eight at a major marathon. And he hopes to race next summer at the Paris Olympics.

“I know it won’t be easy,” he said.

But when has his path ever been easy? In an interview over coffee on a recent afternoon, he thought back to his roots, recalling his childhood in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, where his father taught industrial arts and his mother was a kindergarten teacher.

Ser-Od Bat-Ochir running in a pack during the 2022 world championships. He is wearing a blue-and-red top, red shorts and white shoes.

At 41, Ser-Od has been a constant presence for as long as some of his competitors have been alive.Credit...Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Ser-Od was not particularly academic-minded when he was young — “There was nothing I hated more than studying,” he said, laughing — but he was a good athlete. His first race was at a school sports festival, where he and his classmates were given five minutes to see how far they could run. Ser-Od won easily.

“I loved that feeling,” he said in Japanese through his agent, Brett Larner, who also acted as his translator.

Ser-Od continued to run throughout high school and, after attending university, briefly taught physical education. But the pay was meager, he said, and the long hours cut into his training. He often had no choice but to run at night, and if you’ve never experienced the splendors of jogging on a chilly evening in Mongolia, Ser-Od can tell you all about it.

“It gets quite cold and dark,” he said.

Back when Ser-Od was starting out, Mongolia lacked much of a running culture, he said. People would see him bundled up in four or five layers of sweats and stare at him as if he were juggling cats on a unicycle.

But he was already dreaming big, having watched on television as Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia won the men’s 10,000 meters at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Ser-Od began to wonder: How does one go about becoming an international athlete? Would it be possible for him to compete at the world championships? Or even at the Olympics?

“And just because there’s not really any history of athletics or running in Mongolia, nobody knew,” he said. “It was a learning process.”

After his marathon debut in Hong Kong, Ser-Od quit his teaching job and joined the national police as an officer, one who could win races. The national police had a track and field club, and Ser-Od was a bit of a ringer.

More important, Ser-Od now had the requisite funding to train on more of a regular basis. In 2003, he made his first appearance at the world championships, placing 63rd in a time of 2:26.39, which demolished Mongolia’s national record by about 10 minutes.

“Everybody was just amazed that a Mongolian could run that fast,” Ser-Od said. “They said that it was crazy, that nobody would ever break it.”

Ser-Od continued to break it — he ran a test event for the 2008 Olympic marathon in 2:14.15 — but he was confident that he still had untapped potential when, a year later, he met Gebrselassie at a road race in England. Ser-Od said he was able to dine with Gebrselassie a couple of times and took full advantage of the opportunity to pepper him with questions about training.

“I still didn’t know what I was doing,” Ser-Od said. “So I asked him, ‘What does a world-class marathoner need to do to run at that level?’ And Haile said, ‘The most important thing is to identify what works for you and don’t worry about what others are doing.’”

After the race, Ser-Od was getting off an elevator when he bumped into Gebrselassie again.

“And I’ll never forget this: He asked if we could get a picture together,” Ser-Od said.

It was a formative moment for Ser-Od, who drew inspiration from their encounter and continued to improve. He broke through with a top-10 finish at the 2011 London Marathon. What was working for him? A grueling training program that seemed to invite all of the planet’s atmospheric conditions.

“I was training completely by myself, and I was doing it all,” he said. “I was training in the heat. I was training in the snow. I was training in the rain. I was training in the dark. And that produced results.”

It was also taking a toll. By 2014, Ser-Od knew that he could use some company — “Training by yourself is really draining,” he said — so he moved with his wife and four children to Japan, where he joined a professional team.

But marathoning is an unforgiving profession, and when Ser-Od found himself without a sponsor after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, he fell into a funk. He thought his career was finished. He reached out to Larner, whom he had met through running circles.

“I was like, ‘Uh, I’m a big fan, but a 40-year-old Mongolian? How am I going to find you a sponsor?’” Larner recalled. “I told him I’d see what I could do, but I thought it was pretty hopeless.”

After making several inquiries that went nowhere, Larner was connected with Shingo Oshiro, the president of a solar panel company that had recently started a women’s running team. Oshiro offered Ser-Od a contract and told him he would hire him as a coach for the team once he retired from racing.

“I was so appreciative that they believed in this idea of going for a sixth Olympics and wanted to support me,” Ser-Od said. “I really want to repay my debt to them.”

Still, he knows that making it to the Paris Games next year will be another challenge. He is, in some ways, a victim of his own success. It is all relative, but marathoning in Mongolia has become more popular thanks in part to Ser-Od. He recalled visiting Ulaanbaatar this spring — he still has a home there — and getting stopped for selfies.

“Oh, it’s Ser-Od!” he recalled people shouting.

In a development that would have been unthinkable a few years ago, there are now four Mongolian men who are competitive enough to race at events like the world championships. The problem is that the country can send only three of them to major international competitions.

In fact, Ser-Od thought he was in danger of missing out on Budapest. After he placed 26th at last year’s world championships in Eugene, Ore., injuries hindered his training. As a result, his national ranking slipped to fourth. After an unspectacular result at the Copenhagen Marathon in May, he braced himself for the worst.

“We kind of thought, Eh, that’s probably it,” Larner said. “But there was a miracle.”

It turned out that one of Ser-Od’s Mongolian rivals had raced poorly in Copenhagen. The country’s athletics federation subsequently awarded its final spot in the world championships to Ser-Od.

“It was lucky,” Larner said. “Very lucky.”

Of course, there is nothing wrong with a little luck, especially after so many years of hard work. Against all odds, Ser-Od’s finish still seems far away.

BY

Scott Cacciola has covered sports for The Times since 2013.