Dili, Sept. 10, (dpa/GNA) – More than one-third of the entire population of former war-torn East Timor poured onto the streets near its capital Dili on Tuesday to celebrate mass with Pope Francis on the penultimate stop of the 87-year-old pontiff’s longest foreign trip to date.
More than 600,000 worshippers took part in the open-air service near Dili, local authorities said. The capital has a population of around 222,300. The entire country counts 1.5 million people as residents.
Tens of thousands lined the streets on the way to the service and other public life was essentially paralysed.
East Timor has only been independent from Indonesia since 2002. It is one of the only two states in South-East Asia, together with the Philippines, with a majority Christian population. As a result of colonization by Portugal, almost all inhabitants are Catholic.
All state institutions, including schools were closed for three days because of the pope’s visit.
There were complaints in the run-up to the visit because the government had confiscated several hectares of land for the open-air mass. Non-governmental organizations charged that more than 180 families who had made their homes there were relocated. There were also protests because the costs to host the pope are running into the millions. Large sections of the population in East Timor live in poverty. In his sermon, Francis urged people not to abandon the poor.
President José Ramos-Horta, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 together with Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, were also present at the mass.
The bishop, however, is now considered a persona non grata after accusations of having sexually abused boys. He was reprimanded by the Vatican and is hardly ever seen. However, Belo is still popular with large sections of the population. Francis did not address the scandal in his sermon.
The elderly pope is travelling on to Singapore on Wednesday and will return to Rome on Friday. His previous stops were Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The 12-day trip is part of the Argentinian-born pope’s programme to visit countries and people far away from Rome and on the margins of society.
GNA