At Pope Francis’s Mass in Ulaanbaatar on September 3 Sunday afternoon, which was attended by nearly 200 people from mainland China, one young Catholic from the mainland said life for the Church in his country is extremely difficult and asked that the pope help “save” them.
Speaking to Crux in broken English, the young man, named Li, said that if he had the chance to say something to Pope Francis, his message would be, “Pope, please save our Chinese (Church)!”
“Here (in Mongolia) everyone has no fear, they are not controlled. We have a Church in China, but if there’s a church you see around, it works for the government,” he said, saying there are still many Catholics in China who belong to the so-called “underground” Church, despite the pope’s efforts to heal the divide with a controversial 2018 agreement on the appointment of bishops.
Li said his family comes from Inner Mongolia, a northern region in China that borders Mongolia, and that he and his family have business in Mongolia, so it was easier for them to travel to attend the papal events.
Pope Francis is currently closing a four-day visit to Mongolia, the first a pope has ever made to the country, where Catholics number fewer than 1,500, one of the Church’s smallest flocks.