Ulan Bator (Fides Service) - Progressive opening of Mongolia to the values of democracy and the outside world is creating more space for the Church and for evangelisation according to Bishop Venceslao Padilla, Prefect Apostolic of Ulan Bator who recalls that “when the first Catholic missions, a Belgian and two Philippines priests arrived in Mongolia in 1992 very few people in this country had heard of Jesus Christ”.
In 1992 Mongolia, formerly under Soviet control, established relations with the Holy See and the government indicated that missionaries would be welcome to help rebuild the country. The Bishop, a missionary from the Philippines said “Since then we have opened 3 parishes and the community of baptised Mongolians has grown to 300. Now that the government is taking steps towards democracy there is more space for the Catholic Church. We are preparing almost 100 catechumens for baptism this year. Despite strong influence of developed countries like Japan and South Korea the average standard of living in Mongolia is still very low and nearly every family has at least one member working abroad”.
“The government allows and encourages the opening of Catholic schools - he said - Indeed it has asked for our help in the field of education and social assistance. However the mission of evangelisation demands much patience”.
“Today in Mongolia there are 56 missionaries from 14 countries of Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, which means we have a great force for evangelisation”, the Bishop said calling for support from institutions such as Aid to the Church in Need. (Agenzia Fides 25/3/2006 righe 27 parole 274)