By Joshua McElwee
DILI (Reuters) -Pope Francis arrived on Monday in East Timor, a predominantly Catholic nation in Southeast Asia, for a three-day go to that may embrace an open-air celebration of Mass the Vatican says might draw greater than half the inhabitants of 1.3 million.
The 87-year-old pontiff is on an bold 12-day Asia-Pacific tour, his longest abroad journey but. His journey to East Timor, considered one of two majority Catholic nations in Asia, is just the second such go to by a pope.
Francis arrived from Papua New Guinea, the place on Sunday he delivered medical provides to a small city on the sting of an enormous jungle, in some of the distant areas of the world.
He landed in East Timor’s capital Dili and was met on the airport by President Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta and two younger girls wearing conventional costume, who provided him flowers and a tais, a woven ceremonial scarf, which the pontiff briefly wore.
Tens of 1000’s of individuals stuffed complete metropolis blocks across the airport as Francis left in a white, open-top car. Many used umbrellas adorned within the white and yellow colors of the Vatican flag to guard themselves from solar within the 31 levels Celsius (88 levels Fahrenheit) warmth.
East Timor, a half-island nation north of Australia, gained independence from Indonesia in 2002, after a brutal, decades-long occupation. Francis is the primary pope to go to in 35 years, following John Paul II, whose journey gave the nation’s independence motion an historic increase.
In a speech to about 400 politicians, diplomats and civic leaders just a few hours after arriving, Francis stated East Timor had endured the “biggest struggling and trial”.
“We give because of God, because you by no means misplaced hope … and after darkish and tough days, a daybreak of peace and freedom has lastly arrived,” he stated.
Ramos-Horta thanked Francis and known as the pope’s voice “so mandatory in an more and more disfigured world through which the coldness of hearts has changed dialogue and peace”.
East Timor, a Portuguese colony up till 1975, is probably going essentially the most Catholic nation on this planet, with the Vatican saying some 96% of Timorese are adherents to the religion.
Organisers are getting ready for about 750,000 individuals to attend a Mass with Francis on Tuesday on the Tasitolu, a large, dusty coastal space the place Indonesian forces had been recognized to have buried slain Timorese independence fighters.
ABUSE SCANDALS
Since independence, the nation has struggled with rebuilding its infrastructure and financial system. The Asian Improvement Financial institution final yr stated almost 30% of Timorese in employment earned lower than $2.15 per day and the World Financial institution estimated that 47% of youngsters are stunted due to malnutrition.
The pope stated there was “want for collective and wide-ranging motion” to deal with the financial challenges.
Though Timorese have remained overwhelmingly Catholic, the church within the nation has been affected lately by abuse scandals.
In 2022, the Vatican confirmed it had sanctioned Timorese Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo following allegations he sexually abused boys in Timor within the Nineteen Nineties. It stated Belo, who now lives in Portugal and shared the 1996 Nobel peace prize with Ramos-Horta for his or her independence efforts, had formally accepted restrictions to his actions and ministry.
A yr earlier, a defrocked American priest, Richard Daschbach, was sentenced to 12 years in jail for sexually abusing women below his care in Timor.
A number one abuse survivor advocacy group known as on Francis to talk brazenly concerning the instances throughout his go to.
“The pope should denounce the 2 males by identify,” stated Anne Barrett Doyle, of the abuse monitoring group BishopAccountability.org. “His phrases might have an infinite constructive influence.”
Francis didn’t immediately tackle the scandals in his remarks on Monday. However in a bit of the speech about youth violence and the hazard of gangs, he stated “we’re all known as to do all the pieces potential to stop each type of abuse and assure a wholesome and peaceable childhood for all younger individuals”.
Francis is visiting East Timor till Wednesday as a part of a tour that additionally included a cease in Indonesia. He travels subsequent to Singapore earlier than returning to Rome on Sept. 13.