Christianity in Mongolia

[6][7] During the rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, the Great Khans, though mostly Shamanists and Buddhist, were religiously tolerant towards the Nestorian Christians, Muslims, and Manichaeans.

[8] Many of the khans had Nestorian Christian wives from the Kerait clan, who were extremely influential in the Mongol court.

[11] Some Mongolians rejected the church structure and what was orthodox for the time, and borrowed elements from other religions and merged beliefs from several Christian denominations together.

[12] Syncretism along these lines influenced the way Chinese, Mongolian, and Tibetan Buddhism developed, and the effects of it can still be observed in the modern forms of these traditions.

[citation needed] The Orthodox Churches and their monks became victims to the Mongol invasion of Eastern Europe in the early 13th century.

More importantly, it officially exempted the church from any form of taxation by Mongol or Russian authorities and permitted clergymen to remain unregistered during censuses and clergy were furthermore not liable for forced labor or military service.

Western Catholicism was first introduced in the Middle Ages, primarily through Franciscan and Dominican missionaries, sent to the Mongol court in Karakorum and also via medieval Roman Catholic missions in China.

Pope John Paul II originally planned to visit Mongolia along with Kazan, but he eventually cancelled the trip, supposedly explaining to a Russian newspaper that "Our Lord does not want it".

In 1992, six missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived in Mongolia as English teachers.