Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, ordained the three during a four-day visit to this northern Asian nation.
The cardinal arrived in Mongolia last Saturday from South Korea. On Sunday, he presided over the ordination Mass.
During the homily, Cardinal Sepe said the event was «an important step forward in the history of the Church in Mongolia, a young community, which is only 10 years of age.»
Referring to the ordinands, he said, «Although they are not natives of the country, they have made Mongolia their home and land of hope.»
On Tuesday, John Paul II raised this mission territory to the level of apostolic prefecture, thus laying the bases for the organization of an ecclesiastical structure.
Filipino Father Wenceslaw Padilla, religious of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (a Scheut missionary), will continue as superior of the Church in Mongolia. His religious family has been entrusted with the prefecture.
