Francis opens clinic and shelter for homeless on first papal visit to Mongolia

Pope Francis attended a meeting with charity workers and the inauguration of the House of Mercy in Ulaanbaatar (AP)

Pope Francis has wrapped up the first ever papal visit to Mongolia by inaugurating a church-run homeless clinic and shelter, insisting that such initiatives are not aimed at winning converts but are simply exercises in Christian charity.

Francis toured the House of Mercy, a three-storey structure housed in an old school, which the local church has opened as an expression of the roots that it has taken in the three decades that the Catholic Church has had an official presence in Mongolia.