Cardinal Giorgio Marengo is an Italian prelate and one of the youngest members of the College of Cardinals who since 2003 has served as a Consolata missionary in Mongolia.

Born on June 7, 1974, in Cuneo, Piedmont, Marengo joined the Consolata Missionaries and was ordained priest in 2001. He went on to study philosophy and theology at various institutions, earning a doctorate in missiology from the Pontifical Urban University in 2016.

In 2003, Marengo began his missionary work in Mongolia, becoming one of the first members of his order to serve there. He spent 14 years in Arvaikheer, a remote area 450 kilometers southwest of Ulaanbaatar, where he established a small church and social projects. On April 2, 2020, Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar and titular bishop of Castra Severiana.

Marengo’s most notable achievement is his work in building the Catholic community in Mongolia, which did not exist in 1992 but now numbers around 1,450 faithful. Vocations have more than doubled since Marengo arrived, with priests increasing from 11 in 2003 to 25 in 2022, male religious from 13 to 30, and female religious increasing by a third from 23 to 33.

Marengo has focused on interreligious dialogue, particularly with the Buddhist majority, and has emphasized the importance of understanding Mongolian culture and traditions. One of his significant social initiatives is the establishment of the House of Mercy, a haven for marginalized people in Mongolia.

On August 27, 2022, Pope Francis created Marengo a cardinal, making him the youngest member of the College of Cardinals at the time, aged just 48. The appointment was a surprise, not least to Marengo himself, as the Pope had only met him the day before at a private audience in the Vatican. However, his elevation to the cardinalate came to be seen as a recognition of the Church’s mission in Mongolia and a sign of the Pope’s interest in the Asian continent. Marengo saw it as evidence of how important interreligious dialogue is to the Pope.

The Italian cardinal is known for his approach to evangelization, which he describes as “whispering the Gospel.” This method involves building relationships and sharing the faith with discretion and respect for local culture. He first heard of the term from an Indian cardinal who used it to describe what the Church was doing in Asia. Marengo has said it presupposes an intimate relationship and means reaching the heart of people, being a “mission of depth” that isn’t superficial. Only when the heart of the culture can be touched by the Gospel, he believes, will it really bear fruit.

In an interview with Agenzia Fides in October 2024, Cardinal Marengo spoke of the importance of specifically proclaiming the Gospel to those who do not know what it is. “This specificity must not be diluted, it must not be lost in an overly general discourse on mission,” he said. “To be aware of this specificity and to always take it into account seems vital to me for in this period for the entire action of the Church in the world and for its journey through history.”

The Church’s mission, he said, is neither marketing work nor humanitarian service but a responsibility one receives with baptism. “The Gospel is not communicated as an idea or as one of the options on a menu. This is marketing,” Marengo said.

Marengo has emphasized the importance of reverence for the Eucharist, and has focused on introducing new converts to prayer and deepening their faith.

The Italian missionary was instrumental in preparing for Pope Francis’s historic visit to Mongolia in 2023, the first papal visit to the country. In a 2023 interview with the National Catholic Register prior to the visit, former Mongolian President and Prime Minister, Nambaryn Enkhbayar, noted Marengo’s achievements as a missionary in his country. “Marengo leads the Catholic Church in Mongolia with an estimated 1,300 Catholics out of a total population of about 3.34 million,” he said. “He speaks fluent Mongolian, a difficult language, which he mastered while living in Mongolia for more than 15 years, mainly in the rural area of the country.”

The cardinal places great importance on interfaith dialogue, seeing it as essential for the Church’s presence in Mongolia where Catholics are a tiny minority. The Church under his leadership in Mongolia is involved in various projects related to education, healthcare, and improving living conditions; Marengo sees these social initiatives as a way to embody faith and Gospel values in society.

The cardinal has spoken little about contemporary moral and pressing issues as his primary focus has been on his missionary work in Mongolia and the growth of the Catholic Church there.

As well as his native Italian, Cardinal Marengo speaks English and Mongolian fluently.