DILI, Sept 9 (Askume) – Pope Francis arrived in East Timor, a predominantly Catholic Southeast Asian country, on Monday. His three-day visit will include a public prayer service which the Vatican said could be attended by more than half the population of 1.3 million.
The 87-year-old pope is on an ambitious 12-day trip to Asia and the Pacific , his longest foreign trip to date. His visit to Timor-Leste, one of two Asian countries with a Catholic majority, is the pope’s second such trip.
Francis arrived from Papua New Guinea and on Sunday delivered medical supplies to a small town on the edge of a vast jungle in one of the world’s most remote areas .
As he arrived in Dili, the capital of East Timor, he was greeted at the airport by President José Manuel Ramos-Horta and two young women in traditional dress who presented him with flowers and a woven ceremonial scarf.
Thousands of people gathered around the airport and across the city as Francis departed in a white open carriage. In temperatures of 31 degrees Celsius (88 degrees Fahrenheit), many used umbrellas decorated in white and yellow with the Vatican flag to protect themselves from the sun.
East Timor is a peninsular country in northern Australia that gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 after decades of brutal occupation . Francis is the first pope to visit the country since John Paul II in 35 years and his visit has given a historic boost to the country’s independence movement.
Addressing about 400 politicians, diplomats and civic leaders a few hours after his arrival, Francis said East Timor had experienced the “greatest pain and trial”.
He said, “We thank God that you never lost hope… After dark and difficult days, the dawn of peace and freedom has finally come.”
Ramos-Horta thanked Francis, saying the pope’s voice “is much needed in this increasingly distorted world, where indifference of the heart has replaced dialogue and peace.”
East Timor, a Portuguese colony until 1975, is perhaps the world’s most Catholic country, with the Vatican saying about 96 percent of East Timorese follow the religion.
Organisers are preparing for about 750,000 people to attend Francis’ mass on Tuesday in Tasitolu, a vast, dusty coastal area where East Timorese independence fighters killed by Indonesian troops are buried.
Abuse scandal
Since independence, the country has struggled to rebuild its infrastructure and economy. The Asian Development Bank said last year that nearly 30 percent of Timor-Leste’s working population earns less than $2.15 a day, and the World Bank estimates that 47 percent of children are stunted due to malnutrition.
The Pope said “collective and comprehensive action is needed” to tackle the economic challenges.
While East Timor’s population remains predominantly Catholic, the country’s church has recently been hit by abuse scandals.
In 2022, the Vatican confirmed it had banned East Timorese Bishop Carlos Felipe Jiménez Belo from serving as a bishop after he was accused of sexually abusing Timorese boys in the 1990s. Belo, who now lives in Portugal and shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Ramos-Horta for their independence efforts, has formally accepted the ban on his activities and ministry.
A year earlier, ousted American pastor Richard Daschbach was sentenced to 12 years in prison for sexually abusing girls under his care in Timor.
A leading advocacy group for abuse victims has urged Francis to speak publicly about the cases during his visit.
“The pope must name these two men and condemn them,” said Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopsAccountability.org, an abuse monitoring group. “His words could have a huge positive impact.”
Francis made no direct reference to the scandals in his speech on Monday. But in a speech that addressed youth violence and the threat of gangs, he called on all of us to do everything possible to prevent all forms of abuse and guarantee a healthy, peaceful childhood for all young people.
Francis will visit East Timor on Wednesday, including a stop in Indonesia . HeWill visit Singapore before returning to Rome on 13 September .
