ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia: Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, head of one of the world's smallest national Catholic communities - Mongolia with 1,450 members - has noted that Pope Francis' upcoming visit will show how far his community has come since local residents watched "these funny foreigners praying."

Cardinal Marengo, an Italian who administers the Church in the vast country that borders China and Russia, also said the pope's visit, from 31st August to 4th September, will be a "balm to a people who suffered 70 years of harsh communist rule until the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s."

"The reaction of both the Catholic community and the larger local community was of great wonder and joy and something thrilling. It's gradually becoming more evident how important and meaningful this visit will be," he added.

Francis, who has made a practice of visiting countries in which Catholics are a minority, will spend all of his time in Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar, capital of the vast country, with fewer Catholics than many parish churches have.

The smallest of Mongolia's nine parishes has only 30 members.

With a population of 3.3 million, Mongolia is strategically significant for the Roman Catholic Church, as it is close to China, where the Vatican is trying to improve the situation of Catholics.

Mongolia, which was part of China until 1921, has strong relations with Beijing.

According to the US State Department, some 60 percent of Mongolians identify as religious, with 87.1 percent being Buddhist, 5.4 percent Muslim, 4.2 percent Shamanist, 2.2 percent Christian and 1.1 percent followers of other religions.