By Katie Vasquez
Mongolia is a country that doesn’t receive a lot of visits from foreign leaders.
This papal visit is historic, because Pope Francis will be the first pontiff to visit the Asian country.
Professor Morris Rossabi, a Mongolian history professor at Columbia University, has visited the country 20 times and written or contributed to countless books on it.
Today, a little more than 1,400 people identify as Catholics out of the 3.3 million people who live in Mongolia. But Professor Rossabi says Catholics have been visiting there since the 13th century.
“There were a couple Catholic priests that went to Mongolia up until 1920 and who tried to proselytize among the Mongols,” Professor Rossabi. “Then communism took hold in 1921 and so that was forbidden, but there were a number of Catholic priests who continued to write about Mongolia.”
When communism collapsed in 1990, the people of Mongolia were able to practice religion freely and Christianity has grown, but the country is mostly Buddhist.
The nation is located between China and Russia, which may be another reason for the papal visit. Pope Francis has tried to establish relations after years of no contact between the Vatican and Beijing.
“There’s been a kind of, not a deal made, but a better relationship between the Chinese Catholic Church and the Vatican and this visit to Mongolia might strengthen that aspect,” Professor Rossabi said. The Holy Father will spend most of his time in the capital where half of the country’s population lives.
Professor Rossabi expects him to also address the environment and poverty. “Mongolia has a high incidence of poverty; more than 30% of the people live below the poverty line,” he said.
Pope Francis will stay in Mongolia Aug. 31 through Sept. 4, which Professor Rossabi believes is a longer time than most foreign leaders spend there.