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Pope Francis has returned home after his trip to Mongolia. Catholics from across Asia traveled to Mongolia to attend the country’s first-ever papal Mass with Pope Francis on Sunday. While papal Masses on the pope’s other international trips can draw hundreds of thousands of people, the Mass in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar only had an estimated 2,000 in attendance — presenting a rare opportunity to personally meet the pope for attendees. Catholics from South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan attended the Mass in the sports arena, according to the Vatican. Among the crowd were Catholics from mainland China, including underground Catholics who risked retribution from their government to attend the Mass with the pope. Pope Francis said that he wanted to “send a warm greeting to the noble Chinese people.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255273/catholics-from-mainland-china-and-across-asia-in-mongolia-for-mass-with-pope-francis
Pope Francis also revealed the existence of a joint China-Vatican commission on the appointment of bishops during an in-flight press conference on Monday — giving the clearest explanation to date as to what could be in the secret Vatican-China deal. The pope said that there is a joint commission between the Chinese government and the Holy See on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China presided over by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The pope described the Vatican’s relations with the People’s Republic of China as “very respectful.” The Vatican’s diplomatic relationship with China was a topic of focus during the pope’s four-day trip to Mongolia, which shares a nearly 3,000-mile border with China.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255276/pope-francis-gives-glimpse-into-vatican-china-deal-on-appointment-of-chinese-bishops
Today, the Church celebrates Saint Teresa of Calcutta, a universal symbol of God's merciful and preferential love for the poor and forgotten. She often said that the poorest of the poor were those who had no one to care for them and no one who knew them. And she often remarked with sadness and desolation of milliions of souls in the developed world whose spiritual poverty and loneliness was such an immense cause of suffering. Mother Teresa once said, "A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace." She also said, "give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your own weakness."
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/calendar/2023-9-5