Chinese Catholics among those welcomed Pope`s arrival in Mongolia  

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – A few Chinese Catholics came to sneak a peek at Pope Francis during an official welcome ceremony in the main square of Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar on Saturday.

Reuters reported the Chinese Catholics enthusiastically waved their country’s flag to welcome Pope.

The Vatican does not have diplomatic relations with China, instead recognising Chinese-claimed Taiwan, while China’s Catholics have long been split between a state-backed official church and an underground flock loyal to the pope.

Brandishing red, five-starred Chinese flags, two dozen Chinese nationals who identified themselves as Catholic devotees crowded around a police barrier to catch a glimpse of Francis on Saturday morning.

A few other Chinese nationals could be seen receiving blessings from a cardinal on the sidelines of ceremony.

Suzanne Willis, a Christian pilgrim from Hong Kong, said she was moved to tears seeing Francis in person.

Mongolia, with its population of about 3.3 million people, is strategically significant for the Roman Catholic Church because of its proximity to China, where the Vatican is trying to improve the situation of Catholics.

Francis, 86, arrived in Mongolia on Friday to visit the country’s tiny Catholic community, which at 1,450 members is one of the smallest in the world.

As is customary, Francis, who besides being the leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics is also a head of state, wired greetings to the leaders of each country he flew over, including China.

In his message to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Francis said he had good wishes for all the people of China and assured the president of his prayers for the “wellbeing of the nation”.