SW News:

The Flight carrying Pope Francis and his entourage arrived at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar on Friday.
Monsignor Fernando Duarte Barros Reis, Chargé d'affaires at Mongolia's Apostolic Nunciature, and Davaasuren Gerelmaa, Mongolia's ambassador to the Holy See, welcomed the Pope at Ulaanbaatar's international Chinggis Khaan airport. Church and government delegations also met him on the tarmac.
A young Mongolian woman in traditional attire presented the Pope with a cup of yogurt, a representation of the nomadic culture of the Mongolian people and one of their most popular foods, during a brief welcome ceremony at the airport.
After a lengthy travel, the Pope will relax on Friday. On Saturday morning, he begins his formal meetings and events.
Pope Francis will meet with government leaders, address Catholic Church members, take part in an ecumenical and interreligious gathering, interact with aid workers, and offer Holy Mass in a sports arena during his 43rd international apostolic journey to the Republic of Mongolia.
The Pope had accepted the invitation of the President of Mongolia and local church officials in June.
The Holy Father flew out of Rome's Fiumicino Airport on Thursday and touched down in Ulaanbaatar at the Chinggis Khaan International Airport on Friday at 10 am local time. There was a greeting ceremony upon his arrival. Throughout his tour, the Pope will remain in Ulaanbaatar, the nation's capital.
The Holy Father will visit the Khürelsükh Ukhnaa, the sixth and current president of Mongolia on Saturday, September 2, after being welcomed in a ceremony at Ulaanbaatar's Sukhbaatar Square.
Pope Francis will deliver his first speech during a gathering with government officials, members of civil society, and diplomats in the State Palace's Ikh Mongol hall.
Thereafter he will meet Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene and the Chairman of the Mongolian Parliament. Then the Pope will meet with bishops, priests, missionaries, consecrated people, pastoral workers, and others in the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in the afternoon on Saturday.
The Pope will attend an ecumenical and interreligious meeting on Sunday, September 3 in the morning at Ulaanbaatar's Hun Theatre. He will offer Holy Mass on Sunday in the winter sports "Steppe Arena". He will launch the House of Mercy on Monday, September 4, meet with members of the organization's employees and volunteers, and then bid adieu after a ceremony at the "Chinggis Khan" airport on the final day of his tour.
The East Asian nation that shares a border with China and Russia has never had a pope before Pope Francis. It is the world's most sparsely populated sovereign state, with only 3.3 million residents.
In 1921, Mongolia gained its independence from the Republic of China following the fall of the Qing dynasty in China. Subsequently, it served as a satellite state of the Soviet Union.
The present social democratic Mongolian People's Party changed the political landscape of the nation and put forth a new constitution following a peaceful Democratic Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Religious freedom was able to flourish again after the end of religious repression in 1990, and in the country with a majority of Buddhists, Catholic missionaries came back to reestablish the Church in 1992. Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, an Italian, is in charge of the nation's about 1,500 Catholics. Hoping Together was chosen as the motto of the papal visit to underscore the importance of bilateral ties between the Holy See and Mongolia.