Janice R. Andrews
On his 12-day Asia-Pacific tour, Pope Francis has finally arrived in Timor-Leste, which is the only country where Catholics make up the majority. More than 700,000 people are planned to attend a mass outside near the capital, Dili, on Tuesday. People are very excited about the Pope’s visit, but it is overshadowed by calls for him to speak out about the recent abuse incident involving a well-known priest.
There are claims that Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, winner of the Nobel Peace Prise and hero of freedom, sexually abused young boys in Timor-Leste. Critics say that justice has not been done, even though the Vatican punished him in 2020 by limiting his moves and forbidding him from interacting with children. SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in Oceania, asked Pope Francis to compensate victims, pointing out that no real justice has been done.
Even though there have been calls for accountability, the Pope’s public plan does not include a meeting with victims of abuse. It is still not clear if the pope will talk about the scandal or apologise in public, and it is also not clear if Bishop Belo will be with him during the visit.
This is an important time in Timor-Leste’s history, but the scandal has dimmed its shine. This is the first trip by a pope to the country since Pope John Paul II did it in 1989, when Indonesia still controlled the country. 97% of the people today say they are Catholic, up from only 20% during Indonesia’s attack in 1975.
In addition to the abuse scandal, people in the area have also been critical of how the government is getting ready for the Pope’s visit. In Tasitolu, a swamp area outside of Dili, where the mass is going to happen, houses were torn down by the government. Dozens of families were forced to move, which caused a lot of anger. One of the people who had to leave their home, Zerita Correia, expressed her anger by saying, “They even destroyed our things inside the house.” We have to rent close by now because my kids are still going to school in this area.
The government says the people who were kicked off the land were camping without permission. A government member told the BBC that the people who were kicked off had known about the plans to be kicked off since September 2023. People who went to the city to find work, on the other hand, feel like they are being treated unfairly.
Concerns have also been raised about how much the pope visit will cost. Some people are upset that US$1 million was spent on preparations, which included a brand-new altar for the mass, even though almost half of the people in Timor-Leste live below the national poverty line.
Pope Francis is going to Timor-Leste after going to Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, which don’t have as many Catholics as Timor-Leste. It will be the end of the pope’s tour in Singapore later this week.
The people of Timor-Leste are waiting to see if the Pope will talk about the ongoing abuse scandal or the social problems that have come up during his stay. Is the Pope still travelling?
