A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was one of several representatives of various faiths who spoke at an interfaith event hosted by Pope Francis at the Hun Theater in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Sunday, Sept. 3.
Those at the event included other Christians and representatives of the Mongolian Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Shinto traditions, ChurchofJesusChrist.org reported. Each faith representative described their beliefs, their relationship with heaven and how each faith brings peace and harmony.
Tuvshinjargal “Tuvshin” Gombo, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke about Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and several of the Church’s teachings.
“He is ‘the way, the truth, and the life,’ and His teachings are the guiding light that illuminates our path,” she said of Jesus Christ. She added that the Church teaches to “love one another, to seek understanding and compassion, and to strive for harmony amidst our diversity. His teachings inspire us to protect and cherish our families, to ensure the well-being of children and to strengthen marriages.”
Tuvshin said the shelter of the traditional Mongolian nomadic dwelling, called a ger, is a symbol for Latter-day Saints in Mongolia of their commitment to follow Christ — the source of unity and peace.
“In doing so, we rely on each other like the nomads on the steppe and symbolically welcome each other to stay for the night in our ger and treat each other to [food and drink],” Tuvshin said. “In our shared journey, which can be challenging at times, we can create a world where love prevails, where families are strengthened and where all God’s children find hope, acceptance, purpose and peace.”
She shared how Jesus Christ also taught about helping and serving others.
“He is our exemplar of love, forgiveness and selflessness,” she said. “He showed us how to care for the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed, just as the ger shelters those in need. By emulating His life, we aim to create a society that reflects His teachings of inclusivity, justice, freedom and compassion.”
The interfaith gathering was a part of Pope Francis’s five-day journey in Mongolia, from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, and it was the first-ever papal visit to the country, according to news reports.
“The reconciled and prosperous humanity that we, as followers of different religions, seek to promote is … symbolized by this harmony, togetherness and openness to the transcendent,” Pope Francis said. “And this, in turn, inspires a commitment of justice and peace, grounded in our relations to the divine. In this sense, dear brothers and sisters, we share a great responsibility, especially in this period of history, for we are called to testify to the teachings we profess by the way we act. We must not contradict them and thus become a cause of scandal. … In this regard, I would like to reassure you that the Catholic Church desires to follow this path, firmly convinced of the importance of ecumenical, interreligious and cultural dialogue.”
During his visit to Mongolia, the Pope also visited with the country’s president and praised Mongolia’s tradition of religious liberty, noting that such tolerance existed even during the period of the Mongol Empire’s vast expansion over much of the world, reported the Associated Press.
More than half of the country’s 3.2 million people are Buddhist, according to the World Factbook. Other religious groups in the country include Muslim (3.2%), Shamanist (2.5%) and Christian (1.3%). About 40% of the population doesn’t identify with a religion.
Mongolia has one of the world’s newest and smallest Catholic communities — around 1,450 Mongolians are Catholic — and have been in Mongolia since 1992, reported the Associated Press.
There are more than 12,000 Latter-day Saints in Mongolia in 24 congregations, according to the Church’s statistics. The first missionary couples arrived in 1992 to help with the country’s higher education program. The first mission was established in July 1995 and the first meetinghouse was dedicated on June 6, 1999.
When Church leaders and members have met with Pope Francis
- Church President Russell M. Nelson with President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and other area leaders had a formal audience at the Vatican with Pope Francis in 2019.
- President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, greeted Pope Francis during a Vatican summit on marriage in 2014.
- Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared the stage with Pope Francis and other religious leaders seventh Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, in September 2022.
- During the World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, Joaquim Jorge Oliveira Moreira, an interfaith representative of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, joined other civil and international religious leaders — including Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, president of Portugal — in meeting with Pope Francis in Lisbon’s Belém Cultural Center.
