REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins Acquire Licensing RightsULAANBAATAR, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Pope Francis sent greetings to China on Sunday, calling its citizens a "noble" people and asking Catholics in China to be "good Christians and good citizens," in his latest overture to the communist country to ease restrictions on religion.
Francis made the unscripted comments at the end of a Mass in Mongolia's capital, calling up the former and current archbishops of Hong Kong, Cardinal John Tong Hon and Archbishop Stephen Chow, to flank him as he spoke.
"These two brother bishops - the emeritus of Hong Kong and the current bishop of Hong Kong.
I would like to take advantage of their presence to send a warm greeting to the noble Chinese people," he said in Italian.
And to Chinese Catholics I ask to be good Christians and good citizens," he said.
Persons:
Pope Francis, Cardinal John Tong, Hong Kong's, Stephen Chow, Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Francis, Chow, Hong, Philip Pullella, William Mallard, David Evans, Frances Kerry
Organizations:
REUTERS, Hong, Catholic, Communist Party, Reuters, Catholic Church, Thomson
Locations:
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, ULAANBAATAR, China, Mongolia's, Hong Kong, Beijing, Vatican, Vietnam, Hanoi, British, Asia