Advertisement
Pope Francis returns to Rome from Mongolia trip dominated by China
- ‘Relations with China are very respectful. I have a great admiration for the Chinese people,’ the pope said on his flight back to Rome on Monday
- Francis is anxious to make inroads for the Catholic Church in China, where a 2018 deal gave both Beijing and the Vatican a voice in choosing cardinals
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
3
Pope Francis returned to Rome on Monday after the first papal voyage to Mongolia, expressing admiration for its people and those of neighbour China while acknowledging such trips were becoming more difficult to make.
Advertisement
The 86-year-old ventured to the vast, isolated Central Asian nation as a gesture of support to its tiny Catholic community, but the trip was overshadowed by apparent overtures to Beijing, with whom the Vatican for years has struggled to make inroads.
“Relations with China are very respectful, very. I have a great admiration for the Chinese people,” the pope told reporters on his flight home.
He added: “I think we need to go further on the religious side to understand each other better.
“So Chinese citizens don’t think that the Church doesn’t accept their own culture, their own values and that the Church represents another foreign power.”
Francis had made a similar point earlier, telling a group of missionaries on Saturday in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar that governments had “nothing to fear” from the Catholic Church, in a statement widely seen as a reassurance to China.
Advertisement
He also directly addressed the Chinese people – some of whom were in the congregation of a Sunday mass, on pilgrimages unauthorised by Beijing – telling them to be “good Christians and good citizens”.
Advertisement