The 47-year-old Italian missionary bishop who has led the Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) since 2020 said that he was “surprised and amazed” by the Pope’s decision to include him on the list of new cardinals.

“I believe that the Pope’s gesture was a missionary gesture, to express attention and care to a small community and to all the small communities of faithful scattered throughout the world,” said Bishop Giorgio Marengo, IMC, who leads a flock of 1,300 in a land where the Church was first established only in 1992. “I hand it over to the Virgin Mary, since I am a Consolata Missionary, so that she can always intercede and guide me on my journey.”