VATICAN (CNS): Pope Francis confirmed that he is slated to travel to Mongolia in September, becoming the first pope to visit the Asian nation, which is home to a cardinal and some 1,300 Catholics.
In an audience on April 14, with executives and staff of ITA Airways, the successor to Alitalia, the airline that has taken the pope on his international trips since 2021, he said that he will visit Mongolia, a country sandwiched between Russia and China, after travelling to Hungary in late April and Marseille, France, in September.
During an airborne news conference on his return flight from South Sudan in February, the pope hinted to journalists there was a “possibility that from Marseille I will fly to Mongolia.”
To the airline workers, Pope Francis said that “God willing” he will leave for his 41st apostolic trip, travelling to Hungary from April 28 to 30 “and then there will be Marseille and Mongolia, and all the others that are on the waiting list.”
In August 2022, Pope Francis named Italian Bishop Giorgio Marengo, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to be the first cardinal based there. Cardinal Marengo has served in Mongolia since 2003 and at 48-years-old is the youngest member of the College of Cardinals.
In the February news conference, Pope Francis specified that his trip to Marseille will not be an apostolic visit to France, but rather he be attending a meeting of Mediterranean bishops. He is scheduled to address the meeting on September 23.
“I will go to Marseilles, not to France,” he said.
The pope also said a trip to India could happen next year but made no mention of that to the airline workers.
Meeting the employees of ITA, Pope Francis said the first papal trip taken by Pope Paul VI to the Holy Land introduced “a new way of carrying out the pope’s pastoral ministry, which has enabled the bishop of Rome to reach so many people who would never have been able to make a pilgrimage to Rome.”
The pope then noted how St. John Paul II made 104 international trips during the 27 years of his papacy, which made international travel an “integral part of the pontificate.” Similarly, Pope Benedict XVI made 24 international trips in his eight years as pope.
Pope Francis has continued the tradition.
“It’s important for me to meet people, meet communities, the faithful, believers of other faiths, women and men of goodwill,” said Pope Francis. “Meeting in person, speaking in person is different than making oneself present with a message or a video. It’s not the same.”
The pope thanked the airline staff for helping him bring his ministry to the world, noting that he has “some mobility problems, but thanks to your help I continue travelling.”
