During a trip to the Vatican in October 2011, Elbegdorj had a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.
“Our meeting was very warm,” he remembered. We discussed our past, which included religious history, and the pope showed genuine attention, in what I now consider to be one of the nicest encounters I’ve ever had.
He said that the late pope’s “humanity, love of humanity, and passion to serve in the best interests of humanity” would be his lasting legacy.
During a meeting with the International Commission Against the Death Penalty, of which Elbegdorj is the commissioner, the former prime minister also had a meeting with Pope Francis.
He added, “We know that Pope Francis has a fantastic attitude toward valuing and advocating for life, as well as advocating against the death sentence. We discussed how crucial it is to support life and how crucial it is to end the death penalty.
Elbegdorj clarified that in the late 1980s, he was one of those who contributed to the formation of a nonprofit group in Mongolia that opposed the communist government. This happened at the same time as the Tiananmen Square massacre and the fall of the Berlin Wall. View the video of his interview down below.