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Andrew Feinberg
White Home Correspondent
Pope Francis’s mass in East Timor has been attended by round 600,000 Catholic trustworthy – almost half of the nation’s inhabitants – regardless of native anger over a demolition drive and the excessive price related together with his go to.
The pontiff completes the penultimate leg of his marathon tour via Asia and the South Pacific on Tuesday earlier than he heads to Singapore for his remaining cease.
A sea of yellow and white umbrellas – the colors of the Holy See flag – was seen at Tasitolu Peace Park within the capital Dili, the place the pope obtained a rockstar’s welcome in scorching 32C warmth.
A Vatican spokesperson mentioned 600,000 folks attended the primary a part of the mass within the tiny nation with a inhabitants of simply 1.3 million, the overwhelming majority of whom are Catholics. The Vatican cited crowd estimates supplied by native organisers in Tasitolu Peace Park and surrounding areas.
It’s the similar web site the place St John Paul II celebrated a liturgy through the nation’s struggle for independence from Indonesia.
If confirmed, it will make for the biggest gathering of individuals to attend a papal occasion proportionally to a rustic’s inhabitants.
The pontiff’s three-day go to to one of many world’s poorest nations was overshadowed by controversy over the funds of $12m (£9.1m) allotted for it by the Council of Ministers in February.
A minimum of $1m was spent on erecting a papal mass altar, allegedly after the demolition of various properties and the eviction of dozens of individuals, sparking public anger.
The expense for the go to was criticised because the nation is dealing with one of many world’s worst meals safety challenges and almost 42 per cent of the inhabitants reside beneath the poverty line.
Nonetheless, there was large pleasure forward of Tuesday’s occasion, as attendees started filling the seaside park from 4am native time – greater than 12 hours earlier than the mass was set to start. The gang, made up of younger and previous alike, broke into cheers of “Viva Papa Francisco”, or “Lengthy reside the Pope” as he arrived and sat underneath an umbrella to flee the warmth.
Reverend Pedro Amaral, one among a whole bunch of clergymen celebrating the Mass, advised Reuters he got here with 800 of his parishioners from Zumalai, a village round 85 miles away.
“I’m so completely satisfied as a result of we by no means thought we’d see the Pope,” he mentioned.
After the Vatican itself, East Timor is probably the most Catholic nation on this planet primarily based on the share of the inhabitants who’re counted as believers, with the Vatican saying roughly 97 per cent of Timorese are adherents to the religion.
Francis is the primary pope to go to East Timor because it gained independence in 2002, and the one pope to make a visit there in any respect other than John Paul II, whose go to 34 years in the past gave the nation’s independence motion a historic enhance.
The Pope’s go to additionally put a highlight on the problem of sexual abuse inside the church. Activists and observers had referred to as on Francis to deal with the problem instantly throughout his time in East Timor, as he did in different nations.
Arriving on Monday, the Pope urged the folks to do “every thing potential to forestall each sort of abuse and assure a wholesome and peaceable childhood for all younger folks”.
The Pope didn’t instantly handle any particular case. However his go to comes after the Vatican admitted that it had secretly sanctioned Timorese Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, a Nobel laureate, following allegations he sexually abused boys within the nation within the Nineties.
The Pope is making the lengthy international journey of his papacy at the same time as he faces various well being challenges and makes use of a wheelchair on account of knee and again ache. He has appeared in good spirits regardless of the lengthy air journey and social engagements in three nations he has coated to this point.
He started his journey in Indonesia earlier than flying to Papua New Guinea, and can conclude his 12-day tour in Singapore. He’ll return to Rome on 13 September.
