The Ukrainian bishops did not hold back during a nearly two-hour private audience with the pope.

On the plane home from Mongolia, Pope Francis answered several questions about this October’s synod of bishops.

Since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has constantly looked to the peripheries both in the choice of countries to visit and men to make cardinals.. And he has consistently looked to the East where he detects the first signs of a new springtime for the Catholic Church

Among the hundreds of onlookers from several countries at the back of the square were many Catholics from mainland China, present in defiance of an order from the authorities in Beijing prohibiting not only the bishops of mainland China but also the country’s Catholics from traveling to Mongolia.

Onboard his flight to Mongolia, Pope Francis said he knew some people were upset by the remarks, but the church must keep moving forward. “They got angry, but let’s move on, move on.”

No bishop from mainland China has been allowed to travel to Mongolia as Pope Francis makes the first-ever visit by the leader of the Catholic Church to this vast landlocked country sandwiched between China and Russia.

Pope Francis commented that the situation in the Catholic Church in the United States is “not easy,” where “there is a very strong reactionary attitude” that “is organized and shapes the way people belong, even emotionally.”

87 is the new 60 at the Vatican.

Bishop Valério’s nomination came as a surprise to many since Pope Francis had named Américo Manuel Alves Aguiar, auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, a cardinal on July 9. It had been wrongly presumed then that the pope would appoint the cardinal-elect as the new patriarch after the World Youth Day celebrations.

“I have had two [face-to-face] meetings with Pope Francis, and other members of the government have met him, too,” Ukraine’s President Zelensky said in an interview. “I am most grateful to him for these encounters. He is helping us!”