Pope starts Mongolia visit by praising the country’s religious freedom

Pope Francis on Saturday praised Mongolia’s tradition of religious freedom dating to the times of its founder, Genghis Khan, as he opened the first-ever papal visit to the Asian nation with a word of encouragement to its tiny Catholic flock.
Francis met with President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh inside a traditional Mongolian ger, or round yurt, set up inside the state palace and wrote a message in the guest book that he was visiting “a country young and ancient, modern and rich of tradition,” as a pilgrim of peace.
Francis is in Mongolia to minister to one of the world’s newest and smallest Catholic communities – some 1,450 Mongolians are Catholic – and make a diplomatic foray into a region where the Holy See has long had troubled relations, with Russia to the north and China to the south.