ULAANBAATAR — In an unprecedented occasion, Pope Francis and nearly all the Catholic inhabitants of a rustic had been in the identical room when he presided at a Mass in Mongolia’s capital on Sunday.
The Mass in Ulaanbaatar’s Steppe Arena was the spiritual spotlight of the pope’s journey to go to the Catholic group of simply 1,450. Most of Mongolia’s inhabitants of about 3.3 million are Buddhists.
Most of Mongolia’s 9 parishes are within the capital, however one in a distant space has solely about 30 members and Church officers mentioned they anticipated everybody who may make it to attend.
Many Mongolians nonetheless reside a nomadic custom to graze their animals and in his homily, the pope used the picture to make his level.
“All of us are God’s nomads, pilgrims in search of happiness, wayfarers thirsting for love,” he mentioned, including that the Christian religion quenched that thirst.
Several Buddhist monks of their saffron robes attended the Mass, which was carried out in Mongolian, English and Italian.
Francis, who leaves for Rome on Monday after inaugurating a Church charity and well being centre, started his day at an inter-religious service the place he known as himself one of many “humble heirs” of historical colleges of knowledge and quoted the Buddha.
There, sharing a theatre stage with a dozen different spiritual representatives, he urged all religions to reside in concord and shun ideological fundamentalism that foments violence.
Since he began the journey, Francis has praised spiritual freedom in Mongolia. The landlocked nation borders China, which human rights teams say represses spiritual freedom.
In unscripted feedback on the finish of the Mass, the pope despatched greetings to China, making one other overture to the communist nation to ease restrictions on faith.
‘Ancient colleges of knowledge’
The inter-religious assembly was attended by leaders representing Mongolian Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, evangelical and Orthodox Christians, Mormons, Hindus, Shintos, Bahais and shamans.
“Brothers and sisters, today we are meeting together as the humble heirs of ancient schools of wisdom. In our encounter with one another, we want to share the great treasure we have received, for the sake of enriching a humanity so often led astray on its journey by the myopic pursuit of profit and material comfort,” he mentioned.
Francis, 86, quoted from a writing of the Buddha that claims, “the wise man rejoices in giving,” noting it was just like Jesus’ saying “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Conservative Catholics, resembling Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan, have lambasted the pope for attending such gatherings, calling them “a supermarket of religions” that diminishes the standing of the Catholic Church.
But the pope repeated that he put nice significance in “ecumenical, inter-religious and cultural dialogue.” He mentioned dialogue didn’t imply “to gloss over difference” however to hunt understanding and enrichment.
He condemned “narrowness, unilateral imposition, fundamentalism and ideological constraint,” saying they destroy fraternity, gasoline tensions and compromise peace.
“There can be no mixing, then, of religious beliefs and violence, of holiness and oppression, of religious traditions and sectarianism,” Francis mentioned.
“This is a very important, meaningful meeting,” mentioned one of many attendees, Buddhist Monk Altankhuu Tserenjav of the Zuun Khuree Dashichoiling Monastery in Ulaanbaatar.
“He is a religious leader of the world, for us like a Dalai Lama, so I really respect and welcome him,” he mentioned.
Mongolia has seen a revival of Tibetan Buddhism because the collapse of the Soviet-backed Communist authorities in 1990, and the Dalai Lama is thought to be its foremost non secular chief.
However, China has repeatedly put stress on Mongolia to not enable the 88-year-old exiled Tibetan chief to go to, branding him a harmful separatist. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
