Pope Francis said Friday that he plans to visit Mongolia, the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign country.

In off-the-cuff remarks to employees of the Italian airline company that staffs the papal plane for his international trips, the pope said that he will travel to Mongolia after his scheduled trips to Hungary and France in the coming months.

“In two weeks’ time, God willing, I will leave for my 41st pilgrimage, by going to visit Hungary. And then there will be Marseille, then Mongolia,” Francis said at a Vatican audience with ITA Airways on April 14.

An apostolic journey to Mongolia would make Pope Francis the first pope to visit the Asian country that shares a 2,880-mile border with China, its most significant economic partner.

Mongolia has a population of about 1,300 Catholics in a country of more than 3 million people.

The first modern mission to Mongolia was in 1922 and was entrusted to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. But under a communist government, religious expression was soon thereafter suppressed, until 1992. Mongolia’s first native priest was ordained in 2016.

Last year, Pope Francis named an Italian who had served as a missionary in Mongolia for nearly 20 years as the world’s youngest cardinal. Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, 48, is the apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, which serves the entire country.

Roughly the size of Alaska, Mongolia has five people per square mile. About 30% of its population is nomadic or semi-nomadic. Bordering Russia to the north and China to the south, Mongolia is also the second-largest landlocked country in the world with the vast Gobi Desert covering one-third of its territory.

Pope Francis first spoke about the possibility of traveling to Mongolia in February during an in-flight press conference on his return trip from South Sudan. He told reporters at the time that “there is a possibility from Marseille to fly to Mongolia.”

What countries will Pope Francis visit in 2023?

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Budapest, Hungary, at the end of this month from April 28–30 in what will be his second visit to the central European country in three years.

The pope is also expected to travel to Portugal during the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon taking place Aug. 1–6.

The French Diocese of Marseille announced this week that Pope Francis will preside over a Mass on Sept. 23 as part of a meeting of Mediterranean bishops in the port city in southern France.

Due to the pope’s recent comments, it is expected that a potential papal trip to Mongolia would depart directly from Marseille.

Pope Francis has also said that he hopes to travel to India next year in response to an invitation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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.

During its regular session on April 12, 2023, the Cabinet made the following decisions:

The Draft Resolution to Extend the Special Regime on "Erdenes Tavantolgoi" for Another Six Months to Be Submitted to the Parliament.

The financial situation has improved and the inflow of foreign currency has increased during the period of the special regime imposed on "Erdenes Tavantolgoi" JSC. In order to stabilize the process of selling coal through the exchange under border conditions, and to increase the inflow and forex reserves, it was considered appropriate to extend the special regime for another six months.

- During the special regime, 10.2 million tons of coal were mined, 13.0 million tons of coal were sold, MNT 4.3 trillion was earned, and MNT 1.5 trillion was paid in taxes to the budget.

- 13.0 million tons of coal with a value of USD 1,260.6 million were sold during the period of this special regime.

- Open electronic trading of coal is being organized by the Mongolian Stock Exchange. Currently, 416.0 thousand tons of coal have been sold for MNT 53.9 million during the seven trades, and the income has increased by USD 20.9 million.

- As a result of the electronic trading of coal, the price and sale of coal have increased.

The Tavantolgoi Thermal Power Plant Project to be Divided into Two Phases

The Tavantolgoi thermal power plant project based on the Tavantolgoi coal deposit will be divided into two phases: 300MW + 150MW, and will be put into operation with a capacity of 300MW in the first phase.

Funding of MNT 187 Billion is Urgently Needed for the Construction of Roads and Road Facilities to Reduce Congestion

Minister of Finance B. Javkhlan was mandated to study the possibility of solving MNT 187 billion funding for the construction of roads and road structures in Ulaanbaatar through Government bonds and other sources.

Construction of 16.45 km of main and secondary streets and 963.7 m of bridges is planned in 11 locations to reduce traffic congestion. A total of 4.36 km of highways and road structures have been completed in four locations, and 454 units of land required for development work have been released. Another 963.7 m long bridges in the remaining seven locations are planned as well. In total, MNT 187 billion is needed to complete the above-mentioned construction works.

Form 13A for Sending Citizens to Hospitals Digitized

Minister of Health S. Chinzorig and Minister of Digital Development and Communications N. Uchral were tasked to digitize AM-13A, AM-13B, and AM-13B forms for sending citizens to the hospital, and to provide the health sector professionals with required training based on unified methodology and organization.

The joint Working Group has integrated 19 health sector services into the integrated public service system "E-Mongolia." According to health statistics, in 2022, the number of people, who used these forms, was 317,736 nationwide.

Based on the health insurance system "health.gov.mn", additional development of digital registration and exchange of information on Form 13A between the four types of information systems used in the health sector has been completed, and a total of 864 hospitals, including 530 primary hospitals, 334 referral hospitals, can now receive and send the forms electronically.

The Revised Draft of the Law on Political Parties, to be submitted to the President of Mongolia

The Cabinet discussed the proposals and conclusions on the revised draft of the Law on Political Parties initiated by the President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh and decided to submit it to the President.

The revised draft has specified the issues related to the registration of political parties in more detail, for example, how to register and confirm the amount of the party's capital and its changes, what information to include in the state registration certificate, the documents to be created for registration and changes and movements, and on what basis, by whom and by what procedures it would be registered in the state registration.

Brief news

- G. Unurbayar was released from the State Secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection position at his request.

- O. Khulan was appointed as the Consul General of Mongolia in Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China.

The 2023 Asian Wrestling Championships was held in Astana, Kazakhstan on April 9 to April 14, 2023.

Mongolia finished the Championship with an impressive medal haul, including one gold, three silver, and five bronze medals. Thanks to one gold, one silver, and three bronze medals, Mongolia’s Men’s Freestyle Team secured fourth place with a score of 120. Meanwhile, Mongolia's Women's Team earned sixth place with a score of 117.

Mongolia’s Medal Winners:

Gold:

-Lkhagvagerel Munkhtur – 125 kg

Silver:

-Tulga Tumurochir – 65 kg

-Orkhon Purewdorj – 62 kg

Otgontuya Chinbol – 55 kg

Bronze:

-Gankhuyag Ganbaatar – 92kg

-Suldkhuu Olonbayar – 74 kg

-Davaanasan Enkh-Amar – 72 kg

-Tuwshintulga Tumenbileg – 61 kg

-Bolortuya Bat-Ochir – 53 kg

Mr. Philip Malone, Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Mongolia, Mr. Daniel Kawczynski, UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy and MP, and Mr. Elbegsaikhan Ayush, Head of Mining and Infrastructure at the UK Embassy visited Steppe Metal Powder on April 10, 2023.

During the meeting, the guests and the company executives discussed how British and Mongolian companies worked together to complete the plant project and exchanged views on further collaboration opportunities. At the end of the meeting, Mr. Daniel Kawczynski and Ambassador Philip Malone wished success to the plant team.

Steppe Metal Powder is an export-oriented production plant, which has a wide network of suppliers, customers, and partners in Europe and Asia. Having introduced the most advanced British and German technologies and equipment, the plant has a production capacity of up to 3000 metric tons of metal powders per year.

On 10-12 April 2023, SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming visited Ulaanbaatar at the invitation of Foreign Minister of Mongolia Batmunkh Battsetseg.

Zhang Ming met with President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh and Foreign Minister Batmunkh Battsetseg, exchanged views with Deputy Foreign Minister Gombosuren Amartuvshin and attended an international analytical conference on current issues and the SCO outlook, which was organised by the National University of Mongolia jointly with respected analytical centres.

President Khurelsukh welcomed the SCO Secretary-General’s visit to hold practical discussions on Mongolia’s views and ideas about cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and expressed appreciation for the achievements the SCO has attained in recent years. He pointed out that Mongolia had been contributing to various SCO events since 2004, when Mongolia became an observer state. In the current complicated and volatile international situation, Mongolia intends to comprehensively use its geographical advantages to take part in a wide range of practical cooperation spheres within the framework of the SCO, such as agriculture, energy, transport and infrastructure, in order to contribute to the development of the SCO region.

The SCO Secretary-General thanked the Mongolian party for the invitation and the warm welcome and noted that his visit had reaffirmed his belief in Mongolia’s interest in cooperation within the SCO framework. Mongolia was one of the first non-founding countries to join the SCO Family. It has held the organisations’ observer status for 19 years and has advanced many positive initiatives contributing to its development.

Zhang Ming updated his Mongolian colleague on the SCO countries’ cooperation in such important areas as politics, security, economy, cultural ties and international exchanges, and pointed out that the SCO was open for cooperation with Mongolia in these areas. He expressed the hope that Mongolia would expand its involvement in SCO activities in the interests of mutual preferential relations, mutual advantage and development, which would give a fresh impetus to peace, security and stability in the region.

In his address at the international conference, the SCO Secretary-General focused on informing delegates from Mongolia’s academic and diplomatic establishments and from the SCO member states about the SCO’s basic principles and development achievements, which had a positive effect on the audience.

A rights group has accused China’s communist regime of continuing a “cultural genocide” with an attempt to replace ethnic Mongolian language-based education with Mandarin Chinese in Inner Mongolia province.

In a statement on April 11, the US-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Center said it deplores Chinese authorities’ order asking schools in the province to introduce Mandarin-medium teaching and stop Mongolian-based classes from September.

The group said it has obtained a 52-minute audio recording of the principal of 30th Middle School in the provincial capital Huhhot during a parents-teachers meeting. The recording reveals the principal informing parents about the decision

“Under the directive from the Central Government, all Mongolian schools across the region will use the national common language [Chinese] as the language of instruction starting September 1 this year,” the principal said.

He further added that “the same policy will take effect in the 30th Middle School starting May 1 this year.”

The group also pointed out that a written notice was issued to Mongolian parents stating that the Mongolian entrance exams will be conducted exclusively in Chinese in 2025 for high school students, and in 2028 for college students.

The group alleged that the complete ban on the Mongolian language in Southern Mongolia was “well planned and systematic” and “was the finishing touch of China’s long-running cultural genocide project.”

The Chinese Communist Party-led regime in 2020 tried to impose a “Second Generation Bilingual Education” policy on the roughly six million people in Inner Mongolia, also known as Southern Mongolia to “Firmly Inculcate the Chinese Nationality Common Identity.”

The move had drawn widespread protests in the region from August to September 2020 with more than 300,000 Mongolian students taking to the streets.

Reportedly, millions of parents and teachers staged a sweeping school boycott, rejecting the removal of the Mongolian language from the region’s educational system.

The Chinese authorities had initially claimed that the language change from Mandarin to Chinese would affect only three subjects -- literature, history, and politics.

The Chinese regime reportedly used the mass protests to outlaw Mongolian language education, publicly announcing that the “education in minority languages as local legislations stipulated is unconstitutional” at the Chinese National Congress, according to China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper.

Following the decision of the national congress the local authorities mobilized and banned learning Mongolian outside campuses.

On Jan. 9, 2021, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Department of Education issued a document that effectively banned “any school from gathering students to offer extracurricular learning courses or teaching new courses,” the group said.

The group fears that the recently emerged audio has given a clear indication that there will be a blanket ban aimed at completely erasing the Mongolian language from the hearts and minds of the people.

In 2022, Enghebatu Togochog, the rights group’s director, testified before the United State Congressional-Executive Commission on China about China’s forced cultural suppression and conversion of Mongolians, Uyghurs, and Tibetans.

He accused China of conducting a barrage of rights violations which include “genocide, ethnic cleansing, political purge, economic exploitation, cultural eradication, linguistic assimilation, social marginalization, resource extraction, and environmental destruction,” in the region.

He told the committee that as part of the 2020 revolt against the language change an estimated 8,000–10,000 Southern Mongolians have been arrested, detained, jailed, and placed under house arrest.

Togochog also alleged that in January 2021 all government mouthpieces, including the Inner Mongolia Radio and Television Mongolian language services, were ordered to start replacing Mongolian cultural programs with Chinese ones.

In his address to the US congressional body, he highlighted the suppression of Mongolian traditional rituals and cultures and the demolition or defacement of Mongolian historical figures.

“Whatever form the campaign may take, the ultimate goal of the Chinese authorities is the same: wipe out the language, culture, and identity of these three peoples and force them to adopt the so-called 'zhong hua,' or, simply put, 'Chinese nationality,'” Togochog said.

While speaking to BYU–Hawaii’s Mongolian students, the United States ambassador to Mongolia Richard Buangan advised the students to “Tell your stories.” Buangan said, “Right now, all Americans know of Mongolia is Genghis Khan, but there is a Mongolia of today and that story needs to be told.”

During the discussion hosted by the Mongolia Club on Jan. 20, Buangan said through his work in Mongolia, he has observed that the Mongolian people are incredibly self-aware of their place in history. As a democratic country sandwiched between two authoritarian powers, Russia and China, they are in a very unique position, he said.

Tsetsgee Enkhbold, an alumna who graduated in business management and psychology, said she has heard rumors of their Mongolian democracy struggling through the years. “It is very hard to be entirely independent from the two countries around us,” she said. “So, as an ambassador from one of the leading democracies in the world, what can we do to fortify our democracy?”

The rumors and expressions of criticism against the government that Enkhbold has seen are a strength in Buangan’s eyes, he said. “Democracy is not perfect. It’s not clean,” he said, “but it’s the best system of government to allow voices to influence the direction it goes.” In his opinion, he said the more transparent democracies allow their systems to be, the stronger they are. “Embrace your democracy,” he advised. “Vote. Hold your elected officials accountable. Don’t be afraid to express your thoughts and ideas no matter how critical they are of the government.”

“People like me,” said Buangan, “Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, we were considered three-fifths of a person when the United States Constitution was written. That’s not something to be embarrassed by, that’s something to learn from.”

Three-fifths of a person refers to the Three-Fifths Clause in article one, section two of the Constitution of the United States, says the website Thirteen. Any person who was not free would be counted as three-fifths of a free individual, “for the purposes of determining congressional representation,” says the site. The clause “increased the political power of slaveholding states,” according to the website.

Buangan explained the many civil rights movements and additional constitutional amendments that got America to where it is today create an incredible story to tell, warts and all. He encouraged the Mongolian students to be proud of their identity, not because it is perfect or clean, but because it is strong.

Striving for peace

While admiring the beauty in democracy, Buangan also recognized the need for other countries. He said he was in China for work in 2008. “It was a country I had long admired, but one that my country’s government is deeply suspicious of,” he said. While there, he said he realized he loved Chinese people and culture.

“I hope and pray that someday our two countries can learn to work together, because there are a lot of problems that cannot be solved without the U.S. and China working together,” he said. That is not a popular thing to say in his profession, acknowledged Buangan, but he said those who are able and willing to travel and interact with others can build bridges.

BYUH President John S. K. Kauwe III said one of the founding ideas of BYUH is to learn how to be an example to the world and build peace internationally. “That’s a grand experiment in a world that’s really struggling to have peace. We’re not perfect at it,” he said, and then added with a grin, “But we are really good.”

Reaching the world

Mongolia’s economy is based on commodities, said Baska Purevochir, an alumnus who graduated in business management with a concentration in finance. He asked the ambassador how Mongolia could improve their tourism and bring more visitors from the United States.

“I think a reason why Mongolia is not very high on the list of places to visit is because there aren’t any direct flights,” said Buangan. With a more developed tourist industry focused on marketing what Mongolia has to offer, such as fly fishing and other outdoor experiences, Buangan said he thinks there will be more of a demand to visit Mongolia.

Another way to increase that demand, said Buangan, is for Mongolians to tell their stories. “When you interact with an American, whether that’s shopping or walking down the street or meeting someone on the bus, you are establishing a connection and you are telling a story. Exhibit the values that make Mongolia shine.”

Buangan is from San Diego, California, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, and speaks French, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.