Francis’ encrypted messages

The Pope’s trip to Mongolia this weekend led to the emergence of encrypted messages between neighboring China and the Vatican. Francis had barely sent a telegram to the Chinese president from the plane on Friday — as is diplomatic custom when traveling over a country — when a benevolent response arrived from Beijing. Then China confirmed:We want to enhance mutual trust“With the Vatican believing that the Pope’s words”Reflects friendship and goodwillHowever, daily relations are tense, as for a year Beijing has no longer respected a bilateral agreement it signed in 2018 with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops.

And on Saturday, after a day of rest, the 86-year-old Francis assured everyone who would listen, before Catholic monks engaged in Mongolia, that the Church was not sending its own missionaries.”To spread political thought“And it does not represent” There is no danger to the secular authorities The first letter is addressed to the Mongolian government, which has recently restricted visas for foreign priests and nuns for fear of “proselytizingAnd an indirect message, also addressed to Beijing, where Francis would like to be invited one day.

Bilateral agreement

In his speech during the trip addressed to the public authorities and Mongolian diplomacy, the head of the Catholic Church explained to an assembly that knew little about the Catholic Church, a large minority in this country with fewer than 1,500 baptized people, that he was Catholics.Ready to make their contribution to building a prosperous and safe society“But they needed it.”Far-sighted legislation that takes into account concrete needs » From the Catholic community. The Holy See and Mongolia are negotiating a bilateral agreement.

In his welcoming speech, Mongolian President Ukhnagin Khurlsukh stressed that the rapprochement with the Holy See is part of “New column“From politics”Of love and peace» And defending religious pluralism, pointing in this regard to the example set by Emperor Genghis Khan. The two men had just paid their respects in front of the colossal statue of the Father of Mongolia, who died in 1227.

Encouragement message

However, the pastoral work of Catholic missionaries, who only arrived in 1992 and started from nothing, is not easy in Mongolia, as Mother Teresa’s nun testified before the pope, in white sari with blue headbands, Sister Salvia Marie Vandanakara. : “ This ground is very rocky, sometimes allows no infiltration and does not yield easily. We are vulnerable to despair, overcome by disappointment, even if, with God’s help and under the protection of our Heavenly Mother, we move forward without fear and without hesitation. “.

To the 25 priests and 33 nuns present in this country with an area three times the size of France and a population of about 3.5 million people, Francis, very close and attentive and often improvising in Italian, sent a powerful message of “encouragement and invitation.”Staying in touch with God through the silence of prostration before the Tabernacle gives inner joy and reassurance to the heart. Jesus is the source, He is our treasureAs for minority status, Francis advised: “Do not be afraid of lack and the success that does not come, this is not God’s way. God loves smallness. He loves to achieve great things through smallness“.