Pope Leo XIV received on Monday, October 26, in audience Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) and president of the Episcopal Conference of Central Asia. The meeting, held at the Vatican, is among the audiences of the day communicated by the Holy See, although the matters discussed have not been disclosed.
Marengo, an Italian missionary of the Consolata and one of the youngest members of the College of Cardinals, leads one of the smallest Catholic communities in the world. His career is closely linked to the evangelization of Mongolia, a country he arrived in more than two decades ago and where he has carried out much of his priestly ministry.
A missionary turned cardinal
Born on June 7, 1974, in Cuneo, Italy, Giorgio Marengo entered the Institute of the Missionaries of the Consolata, a congregation founded by Saint Joseph Allamano. He made his perpetual profession in 2000 and received priestly ordination on May 26, 2001.
After completing his theological formation and specializing in missiology, he moved to Mongolia, where he participated in the establishment of a Catholic community in Arvaikheer, south of the capital. There he served as pastor of Mary Mother of Mercy and held various responsibilities within his religious institute.
On April 2, 2020, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, with episcopal dignity. He received episcopal ordination on August 8 of the same year and, two years later, was created cardinal during the consistory of August 27, 2022, when he was 48 years old.
His appointment brought into the College of Cardinals a pastor from a local Church of very small dimensions, marked by missionary presence and coexistence with a predominantly non-Christian population.
At the head of the bishops of Central Asia
On April 17, 2026, Marengo was elected president of the Episcopal Conference of Central Asia, a responsibility that adds to his work as apostolic prefect of Mongolia.
The Catholic Church in this country resumed its missionary activity in 1992, after the fall of the communist regime. Since then it has developed a presence focused on evangelization, pastoral care, and various educational and charitable initiatives.
In an address to the Capuchin Friars Minor on October 23, Marengo recalled that the Mongolian Catholic community currently has about 1,700 baptized members and only one local priest. The cardinal emphasized the importance of the ad gentes mission and described the Church of Mongolia as a “workshop of evangelization.”
During that address he also recalled his first years of mission near the Gobi Desert, where the Catholic presence began with the celebration of the Eucharist and attention to the needs of the population.
Other audiences of the Pontiff
In addition to Cardinal Marengo, Leo XIV received on Monday the president of Slovenia, Nataša Pirc Musar, accompanied by her husband and entourage; the bishop of Manzini (Eswatini), José Luís Gerardo Ponce de León; and the new ambassador of Chile to the Holy See, James Sydney Sinclair Manley, on the occasion of the presentation of his credentials.
The Pontiff also held a meeting with the participants in the General Chapter of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Jeanne Antide Thouret.