Pope Francis has touched down in Timor-Leste- the single Catholic-majority state he will attend on his 12-day Asia-Pacific trip.
Around 700, 000 people- more than half of Timor-Leste’s full population- are expected to attend an open-air mass that the Pope did honor near the capital Dili afterwards on Tuesday.
Politicians are urging the Pope to tackle a new misuse scandal that has tarnished the Church in Timor-Leste, previously known as East Timor, with enormous enthusiasm for the pope’s attend.
Authorities had also demolished homes and evicted dozens of people in the area where the mass will be held, in a move which has attracted strong criticism from local residents.
” They also destroyed our stuff inside the house. Because my kids are still attending school in this area, we now have to hire adjacent,” Zerita Correia had previously told BBC News.
The houses are located in Tasitolu, a vegetation area just outside the capital. Over the past ten years, hundreds of people have relocated that from rural areas of the nation.
Some people moved to the capital and constructed basic homes there. They are squatting and have no right to live there, according to the authorities.
A state minister told the BBC that people were informed of plans to evacuate the area in September 2023.
The Pope is also facing inquiries about allegations that a well-known priest, who was hailed as an freedom warrior, sexually abused adolescent boys in Timor-Leste.
A Vatican official said the temple had been informed of the case involving Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo in 2019 and had taken punitive measures in 2020, including a ban on voluntary call with juveniles.
The victims ‘ community of those abducted by clergy in Oceania wrote in an open letter that there is still no reimbursement for the victims and that Pope Francis should use Church funds to pay them payment.
The Pope wo n’t visit victims, according to his official schedule, but it’s not clear whether he will apologize for the incident or whether Bishop Belo will visit Dili.
Timor-Leste’s critics have also questioned the decision to spend such large sums of money on the visit, including US$ 1 million ( £762, 000 ) on a brand-new altar.
Almost half of Timor Leste’s population already lives below the national poverty line, according to the UN.
This catholic visit to Timor-Leste is the first since Pope John Paul II visited the country in 1989, when it was still under Indonesian rule.
Just 20 % of East Timorese citizens were Catholic when Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975. That number currently stands at 97 %.
Prior to now, the Pope was in Papua New Guinea, where 3 % of its inhabitants identify as Catholics, and 3 % in Indonesia, where that percentage is higher.
After this week, Pope Francis did wrap up his tour of the area in Singapore.