The Pope meets with the Church of Mongolia and thanks its members for their "life spent for the Gospel"

MADRID, 2 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Pope Francis met this Saturday with bishops, priests, missionaries, consecrated persons and pastoral agents in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar, and thanked them for their "life spent for the Gospel".

As part of his 43rd Apostolic Journey to Mongolia, the Pontiff visited the country's Catholic cathedral for a meeting with the religious, to whom he addressed himself inspired by Psalm 34, which cries "Taste and see how good the Lord is !" (v.9), according to the Vatican portal 'Vatican News'.

"Spending one's life for the Gospel: it is a beautiful definition of the Christian's missionary vocation, and in particular the way in which Christians live that vocation here," Francis claimed at the meeting.

Likewise, he stressed that one should "spend one's life for the Gospel" because "it has been tasted, the good taste has been felt and the tenderness of God's love has been experienced in one's own existence".

The Pope thus insisted on the importance of the daily encounter with God "in the face of others, in those in need, where Christ is present."

In this context, he recalled the work of the first missionaries in Mongolia 30 years ago and the current charitable actions that, in his opinion, "reflect the merciful face of Christ the Good Samaritan."

"Without this, the forces are dwindling and the pastoral commitment runs the risk of remaining in a sterile provision of services, in a succession of tasks that must be done, but which end up transmitting nothing more than fatigue and frustration", he added. about.

On the other hand, he has highlighted the Church of Mongolia as a small "but universal" and has encouraged to see in the bishop of this "not a manager, but the living image of Christ the Good Shepherd who gathers and guides his people".

Francis, at the end of his speech, also referred to the Mother of Heaven, how the Virgin Mary is invoked in the country, and urged not to fear the small numbers represented by the Church in Mongolia, where there are some 1,500 baptized: "Do not be afraid of small numbers, of successes that do not come, of relevance that does not appear. This is not God's way. Let us look at Mary, who in her littleness is bigger than heaven, because she has welcomed the one that neither heaven nor the highest heaven can contain".