Pope Francis in Mongolia

Francis, the comic strip: Why did Francis go to Mongolia? Look at the map to find out.

The church in Mongolia is the mustard seed, small but with the potential for greatness, not greatness in the calculations of the world, but greatness in the power of faith, writes Michael Sean Winters.

Pope Francis on Sept. 4 said that next month's hotly anticipated Synod of Bishops will be open to the Holy Spirit — but not so much the press or the public. "This is not a television program," he told journalists on the papal plane returning to Rome from his four-day visit to Mongolia.

Less than a month ago, Pope Francis made global headlines for a Mass in Portugal that attracted a crowd of over 1.5 million attendees. Here in Mongolia, on Sept. 3, the pontiff turned his attention to a local church that boasts fewer than 1,500 Catholics in the entire country.

With one neighbor actively waging war and the other becoming an increasingly totalitarian state, Pope Francis praised Mongolia's commitment to charting a different course through democracy and diplomacy in pursuit of peace.

Pope Francis on Sept. 1 arrived in Mongolia, becoming the first pope to visit the vast country with one of the world's smallest Catholic populations, nestled between Russia and China — two nations with complicated Vatican relationships.

By visiting the vast nation of only 3.3 million inhabitants, with one of the world's smallest Catholic communities, Pope Francis, in his distinct way, will put Mongolia on the map.  

Pope Francis travels to the periphery of Roman Catholicism later this summer when he becomes the first pontiff to visit Mongolia, a Central Asian nation squeezed between Russia and China with just 1,500 Catholics.