Pope meets shamans, monks and evangelicals

Pope Francis (far right) with other religious heads in Mongolia. Pic/AP

With China's crackdown on religious minorities as a backdrop, Pope Francis joined Mongolian shamans, Buddhist monks and a Russian Orthodox priest on Sunday to highlight the role that religions can play in forging world peace, as he presided over an interfaith meeting highlighting Mongolia's tradition of religious tolerance.

Francis listened intently as a dozen faith leaders - Jewish, Muslim, Bahai, Hindu, Shinto and evangelical Christian among them - described their beliefs and their relationship with heaven. Several said the traditional Mongolian ger, or round-shaped yurt, was a potent symbol of harmony with the divine - a warm place of family unity, open to the heavens, where strangers are welcome.

"The fact that we are meeting together in one place already sends a message: It shows that the religious traditions, for all their distinctiveness and diversity, have impressive potential for the benefit of society as a whole," Francis said in remarks that cited Buddhist writings, Gandhi, his namesake St. Francis of Assisi and the existential philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

The interfaith event, held at a theater in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, came midway through Francis' four-day visit, the first by a pope.

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