“Someone asked me if I was going to Mongolia, a small people in a big country. Mongolia seems to never end and there are few people. It will do us good to understand this silence, so long, so great. It will.” Do we understand it not with the intellect but with the senses? It will be good to hear a little of the music of Borodin, who was able to express the greatness of Mongolia.” Pope Francis said this on his flight to Mongolia and welcomed the journalists traveling with him on the plane. The apostolic journey, which will take the Pope to Mongolia from August 31 to September 4 under the motto “Hope Together”, is the 43rd of his pontificate and will cover 61 states that Francis, the first pope to visit the country visited, visited who still lives in the myth of Genghis Khan. The flights on the approximately 8,280 km long route between Rome and Ulaanbaatar are particularly long and demanding: 9.5 hours on the outward journey, 11 and 20 hours on the return journey. Six hour time zone. The program includes political-institutional, pastoral meetings with the small local Catholic community as well as interreligious meetings. During his four-day stay in Mongolia, the Pope will give five speeches, all in Italian.
A mural before the Pope’s visit
The first two days are dedicated exclusively to the flight and the official reception. On Thursday, August 31st, the Pope will depart from Fiumicino airport at 6:30 p.m. for Ulaan Baatar, where he will arrive the following day – Friday, September 1st – at 10:00 a.m. local time (4 a.m. in Italy) at Chinggis International Airport Khaan” will also land. An official welcome is also planned. Then, without further appointments to compensate for the length of the flight and the time zone, we move on to Saturday September 2nd, where the welcoming ceremony is scheduled at 9:00 a.m. local time (3:00 a.m. Italian time) in Piazza Sukhbaatar at 9:30 a.m. ( 3:30 a.m. Italian time). ) the courtesy visit to the President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh at the State Palace; at 10:20 a.m. (4:20 a.m. in Italian) the meeting with the authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps in the “Ikh Mongol” room of the State Palace. Then at 11 a.m. (5 a.m. in Italian) the meeting with the President of the State Grand Hural, Mongolia’s unicameral parliament; at 11:10 a.m. (5:10 a.m. in Italy) the meeting with Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene. In the afternoon at 4 p.m. (10 a.m. Italian time) the meeting with the bishops, priests, missionaries, consecrated men and women and pastors in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.
On Sunday, September 3rd, the ecumenical and interreligious meeting in the “Hun Theater” is again in the capital Ulaan Baatar at 10:00 a.m. (4:00 a.m. in Italy) and the mass in the “Steppe” is at 4:00 a.m. (10:00 a.m. in Italy) planned. . Arena”. On Monday, September 4, the last day of the visit, the meeting with charity workers and the inauguration of the House of Mercy are scheduled for 9:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. Italian time); at 11:30 a.m. (5:30 a.m. Italian time) the Farewell ceremony at Chinggis Khaan International Airport; and at 12:00 local time (6:00 in Italy) the Pope’s departure for Rome, with arrival in Fiumicino scheduled for 5:20 p.m.
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