By Joshua McElwee
DILI (Reuters) -An estimated 600,000 folks in East Timor, slightly below half its inhabitants, turned out within the baking warmth on Tuesday for a Mass with Pope Francis at a coastal park synonymous with the nation’s lengthy battle for independence from Indonesia.
Filling a large, dusty space the place Indonesian forces buried slain Timorese independence fighters, folks arrived as early as 1 a.m. and sat on the bottom, many braving the solar for hours in temperatures as excessive as 32 levels Celsius (90°F).
Many sheltered below umbrellas embellished within the white and yellow colors of the Vatican flag, whereas others carried indicators asking for blessings and sang native melodies, in one of many largest ever turnouts as a proportion of a rustic’s inhabitants for a Mass throughout a papal go to.
Rev. Pedro Amaral, one in every of tons of of monks celebrating the Mass, stated he got here with 800 of his parishioners from Zumalai, a village about 140 km (85 miles) away.
“I’m so comfortable as a result of we by no means thought we’d see the pope,” stated the priest.
College instructor Jamie Belo, 60, stated he left house 12 hours earlier than Mass to safe a spot to see the pope.
Former Portuguese colony East Timor is a half-island nation of 1.3 million folks north of Australia and one in every of solely two predominantly Catholic counties in Asia.
The Vatican estimated 600,000 had gathered for Tuesday’s Mass. Many within the crowd on the outskirts of Dili, the capital, appeared younger, with moms and dads holding infants or conserving youngsters round their legs.
‘TEEMING WITH LIFE’
East Timor, or Timor-Leste, misplaced no less than 102,800 folks within the 1975-99 battle with Indonesia, in keeping with the U.N. It now has a median age of 20, in keeping with official estimates.
“How great that right here in Timor-Leste there are such a lot of youngsters!” Francis stated throughout his homily for the Mass, searching over the gang.
“Certainly, you’re a younger nation, and we will see each nook of your land teeming with life.”
In off the cuff remarks on the finish of the occasion, Francis appeared to repeat earlier warnings about imposing Western liberal values on the remainder of the world.
Noting some Timorese seashores have crocodiles, he instructed the gang: “Watch out of these crocodiles that need to change your tradition, your historical past”.
The pope’s cease in East Timor is a part of an bold 12-day, four-country tour throughout Southeast Asia and Oceania, his longest but.
It’s seemingly probably the most Catholic nation on this planet, with the Vatican saying about 96% of Timorese are adherents to the religion.
Cardinal Carmo da Silva, Dili’s archbishop, expressed “profound gratitude” to Francis in remarks after the Mass. The pope’s go to, he stated, “marks a basic step within the means of constructing our nation, its identification and its tradition”.
Francis is the primary pope to go to East Timor in 35 years, following John Paul II, whose look gave the nation’s independence motion an historic increase.
Like Francis, John Paul additionally celebrated Mass on the Tasitolu, now a protected space and “Peace Park” that overlooks the waters of the island’s northern coast.
John Paul’s Mass, held through the occupation, ended with a small chair-throwing melee between anti-government demonstrators and law enforcement officials. The late pope was unhurt.
Francis’ go to, held through the twenty fifth anniversary of the vote for independence, at instances resembled one thing extra like an unlimited occasion.
Crowds gathered for kilometres within the streets round Dili all through Tuesday to comply with the pope’s occasions, which additionally included a gathering with Catholic bishops on the cathedral and a go to with disabled youngsters at a neighborhood Catholic college.
The 87-year-old pontiff, utilizing a wheelchair as a result of knee and again ache, was typically rolled close to the rope strains exterior his occasions.
Individuals gathered round him, touched his arms, kissed his silver papal ring, or supplied a tais, a conventional woven scarf, for him to put on. Dancers in feathered headdresses additionally performed small drums.
The Mass, the most important papal occasion since Francis’ go to to Portugal final 12 months for the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day competition, featured readings in Portuguese, Tetum, and 5 different native languages.
Francis is visiting East Timor till Wednesday as a part of a tour that additionally included stops in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. He travels subsequent to Singapore, earlier than returning to Rome on Sept. 13.
