ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia - Pope Francis has arrived in Mongolia, a predominantly Buddhist country with just 1,450 Catholics that the Vatican hopes can act as a facilitator to improve difficult relations with China.

The 86-year-old pontiff arrived at Ulaanbaatar airport on Friday aboard a chartered ITA Airways plane that was also carrying his entourage and accompanying reporters.

Sitting in a wheelchair, he was pushed past rows of Mongolian guardsmen wearing ornate blue-and-red uniforms and holding rifles after he left the plane.

He then exchanged some handshakes before entering a car and being whisked away.

The first event in the capital for Pope Francis is on Saturday, when he addresses government leaders and the diplomatic corps.

Visiting places where Catholics are a minority is part of the Pope’s policy of drawing attention to people and problems in what he has called the peripheries of society and of the world.

He has not visited most of the capitals of Western Europe.

As is customary, Pope Francis issued greetings to every country he flew over on his way to Mongolia including China, with which the Vatican has had difficult relations.

“I send greetings of good wishes to your excellency and the People of China,” the Pope said in the telegram addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Assuring you of my prayers for the wellbeing of the nation, I invoke upon all of you the divine blessings of unity and peace.”

Relations between China’s officially atheist Communist Party leadership and the Vatican have been fraught for decades.

The Holy See has full diplomatic relations with Taiwan, while China’s Catholics have long been split between a state-backed official church and an underground flock loyal to the Pope.

Mongolia was part of China until 1921 and has close political and economic ties with Beijing.

Diplomats say it could be used as an intermediary with China. REUTERS