Some 600,000 Catholics in Timor Leste, almost half the population of the country, attended the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis at a park in Tasitolu, the coastal plain five miles outside Dili, the capital city, on the evening of Sept. 10. It was the crowning point of his two-day sojourn in the most Catholic country in Asia that has drawn enthusiastic crowds.
The vast crowd, protecting themselves from the sun under yellow and white umbrellas and waving Vatican and Timorese flags, chanted “Viva Papa Francisco! Viva! Viva!” when the pope arrived. Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass at this site in 1989 but for a much smaller crowd and surrounded by military forces, as the country was then under Indonesian occupation.
Pope Francis, on the other hand, came to what was the first independent state founded in the 21st century. Xanana Gusmao, a leader in the fight for freedom, the country’s first president and now that prime minister, attended the Mass and assisted the pope as he greeted people with illnesses and disabilities before the celebration.
In his homily, delivered in Spanish, Francis told the people, “We are called to open ourselves to the Father’s love” and “to let ourselves be fashioned by him, so that he may heal our wounds, reconcile our differences and reorder our lives to create a new foundation for every aspect of our personal and communal life.”
The crowd listened to the homily in near-total silence. At the end of Mass, however, the crowd roared when Francis went off script, saying:
I have been thinking: What is the best thing that Timor has? Is it sandalwood? Is it fishing? No, this is not the best. The best is its people! I cannot forget the people on the side of the roads with children. How many children this nation has! The best thing this people has is the smile of its children. A people that teaches its children to smile is a people with a future.
But Francis continued: “Be careful. They tell me that on some of the beaches crocodiles come. They come swimming, and they have a bite that is stronger than we can manage. Be attentive. Be careful of those crocodiles who want to change the culture, the history. Do not go near those crocodiles because they bite, and they bite a lot.”
In the opinion of many journalists here, Francis appeared to be warning Timor Leste against foreign countries and multinational corporations that today, as in the past, are seeking to exploit the rich natural resources of this country. They also saw his words as a warning against the ideological colonization that threatens to change the country’s culture.
Pope Francis ended his impromptu remarks by telling the nation: “I wish you peace. I wish that you continue having many children and that the smile of this people continues to be the children. Take care of your children, but also take care of your old people who are the memory of this land.”
Francis concluded this unforgettable evening by driving in a jeep through the festive crowd as they waved, cheered and blessed themselves.
The East Timorese, a deeply religious people, honored Pope Francis from the moment he arrived at Port Moresby’s Jacksons International Airport on Sept. 9. Two of the heroes of the country’s struggle for independence came to the airport to welcome the pope: José Ramos-Horta, the current president and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Xanana Gusmao, the prime minister.
Tens of thousands of excited Timorese, young and old, lined the road from the airport to the nunciature and cheered him as he passed by.
“They feel he radiates joy and hope,” the Rev. Frido Abel da Cruz, a priest of the Diocese of Dili for 10 years, told me. “They believe he is an instrument of God that brings them blessing and brings blessing to our country. His visit is a beautiful moment for us, everyone is happy.”
Sister Madalena, a Timorese sister who teaches in a primary school, told me: “His presence for Timor is a blessing. He represents Christ for me. He represents Christ for us. He is so simple, so humble. He cares for the poor. He inspires me to try to do my work even better.”
Pope Francis raised the spirit of the nation when he expressed great confidence in the future of this country that only gained its independence in May 2002. He did so when he addressed 400 members of the country’s civil and religious authorities, as well as representatives of civil society and the diplomatic corps at the Nicolau Lobato Presidential Palace in Dili, on the evening of his arrival here.
“Looking at your recent past and what has been accomplished so far, there is reason to be confident that your nation will likewise be able to face intelligently and creatively the difficulties and problems of today,” he told them, as he recalled the 25 years of struggle for freedom from Indonesia that cost so many lives.
He hailed the “assiduous efforts” they are making at reconciliation with their “brothers and sisters in Indonesia” and praised their fidelity to the Catholic faith throughout the long years of struggle for freedom.
Dominican missionaries brought the Catholic faith, as well as the Portuguese language, to the island when they arrived with Portuguese colonizers in the 16th century. When Portugal left in 1975, the Indonesians invaded and occupied the territory until 1999.
Pope Francis did not gloss over the many serious problems the country faces today, starting with poverty (40 percent of the people struggle to live on less than $1.25 a day), a brain drain caused by emigration, and the widespread gang violence and abuse of alcohol among young people. He underlined the urgent need for quality education and formation so that young people can become the future leaders of this country. He promised that the Catholic Church would work hand in hand with state institutions to address the country’s problems.
He was again cheered on by crowds this Tuesday morning when he went to visit children with disabilities at a center run by nuns. Afterward, the pope traveled to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to address the country’s bishops, priests, women and men religious, seminarians and catechists.
“I am happy to be with you during this journey in which I am a pilgrim in the lands of the East,” the pope told the 400 or more clergy and religious in the cathedral. In his welcome address, Bishop Norberto do Amaral had said, “Timor Leste is a country ‘at the edge of the world.’” And in his talk, Francis remarked: “Precisely because it is at the edge, it is at the center of the Gospel. For we know that in the heart of Christ the ‘existential peripheries’ are the center. Indeed, the Gospel is full of people, figures and stories that are on the margins, on the borders, but are called by Jesus to become protagonists of the hope that he came to bring.”
The pope reminded them that Timor Leste is known worldwide for its sandalwood which, because of its fragrance, “is highly valued and sought after.” He told them, “You are the fragrance of Christ! You are the fragrance of the Gospel in this country…. You are missionary disciples who bear the fragrance of the Holy Spirit in order to ‘intoxicate’ the lives of your people.”
He urged them, therefore, “to deepen your knowledge of Christian doctrine” and their “spiritual, catechetical and theological formation” so as to be better able “to proclaim the Gospel in your culture and, at the same time, to purify it in the face of archaic and sometimes superstitious practices and traditions.”
Then in a key passage, he said:
Your country, rooted in a long Christian history, also needs a renewed impetus toward evangelization, so that the Gospel’s fragrance may reach everyone, a fragrance of reconciliation and peace after suffering years of war; a fragrance of compassion, which will help the poor get back on their feet and inspire a renewed commitment to revive the economic and social wellbeing of the country; a fragrance of justice against corruption.
By his talks and his presence here, the first pope from the new world sought to raise the spirits of this Catholic nation and give them hope, even as they struggle with many problems. He assured them of his support and asked them to “pray for me, not against me.”
Francis concludes his successful visit to Timor Leste tomorrow morning by meeting 1,500 young people at the Dili Convention Center before driving to the airport to take the plane to Singapore, the last leg of his 12-day journey to the East.
