The Albany Gazette - Pope Francis visits homeless shelter on last day in Mongolia

The visit to "The House of Mercy", which will also welcome survivors of domestic violence and their children, in a poor area of Ulaanbaatar suits the 86-year-old pope's longstanding practice of reaching out to those on the peripheries.

The visit also caps two days in the Central Asian nation overshadowed by Francis' outreach to Mongolia's powerful neighbour China.

Following a mass on Sunday, the pontiff directly addressed Catholics in China -- some of whom were in the audience -- telling them to be "good Christians and good citizens", as he sought to ease tensions with Beijing.

Groups of Chinese Catholics had travelled to Mongolia, whose Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, to see the pope up close, with many telling authorities they were travelling for tourism, according to interviews with AFP.

After the mass, held at an ice rink and attended by many of the country's 1,400-odd Catholics, Francis sent "a warm greeting to the noble Chinese people".

"To the people I wish the best," said the pope, flanked by the bishop and bishop emeritus of Hong Kong.

"To Chinese Catholics, I ask you to be good Christians and good citizens."

It was the second apparent overture to the Chinese Communist Party in two days, following Francis telling a gathering of missionaries Saturday that governments had "nothing to fear" from the Catholic Church.

- Pilgrims from China -

China's government, which is officially atheist, is wary of the Catholic Church on its territory, and exercises strict control over all recognised religious institutions.

A Chinese woman from the northwestern city of Xi'an who attended mass described to AFP the difficulty of making the pilgrimage, saying two organisers of her tour had been detained back in China.

"Let me tell you, I feel so ashamed to hold the (Chinese) national flag," she said.

"But I need to hold it and let the Pope know how difficult it is for us."

Another woman from the Chinese province of Hebei told AFP she felt "so blessed and happy to be able to be here and see the pope".

"To have our own religion doesn't mean that we are against our country," she added.

The Holy See and Beijing renewed a contentious 2018 deal last year that gives both parties -- and not just the Church -- a say in appointing bishops in China.

Critics have called the move a dangerous concession in exchange for a presence in the country.

A former Soviet satellite state that has been a democracy since 1992, Buddhist-majority Mongolia has one of the world's youngest and smallest Catholic communities, estimated at approximately 1,400 people among its population of 3.3 million.

It has just 25 Catholic priests -- only two of them Mongolian -- and 33 nuns.

Mongolia has sought to toe a neutral line with its expansionist neighbours Russia and China, on whom it depends for imports of energy and the export of its coal, even as it reaches out to third countries, including the United States and South Korea, for balance.

(Y.Berger--BBZ)