Pope Francis celebrated, this Tuesday (10), a mass at the Taci Tolu esplanade, in Dili, on his second day of visit to East Timor, and in which 600 thousand faithful participated, half of the 1.3 million inhabitants of the country considered the most Catholic in the world, not counting the Vatican.
The country’s authorities reported that there were around 600,000 people on the esplanade and in the surrounding areas, one of the largest events of Francis’ pontificate in proportion to the number of inhabitants.
Since this Monday (9), the inhabitants of Dili and Timorese from all over the country gathered in this natural space where Saint John Paul II also celebrated a mass in 1989, when East Timor was still a province of Indonesia and which highlighted the world’s attention to the demands for independence.
More than 30 years later, the pope was welcomed by a flood of yellow and white umbrellas, the colors of the Vatican, donated by the organizers to protect him from the excessive heat, in a totally festive atmosphere.
Not only the inhabitants of the capital, but also from all parts of the country went to Taci Tolu, as well as some pilgrims from Indonesia, neighboring West Timor and Australia, most of them wearing commemorative shirts of the trip that were also distributed by the organization and that could be seen throughout the city in what became one of the great events in the history of the young nation.
The pontiff was welcomed upon his arrival with traditional dances and greeted some of those present before the mass, while due to the heat it was decided to travel along the esplanade in a popemobile to greet the faithful only after the ceremony.
In his homily, in Spanish and translated into Tetum, the Pope spoke of the joy of the birth of a child and stated that in East Timor “it is wonderful what happens when a baby is born” and that in that country “there are many children” and it is “a young country where life is felt to be pulsating and bubbling in every corner”.
“And the presence of so many young people and so many children is an immense gift, in fact, it constantly renews the freshness, energy, joy and enthusiasm of its people,” highlighted the Catholic leader.
And he added that “giving space to the little ones, welcoming them, caring for them and also making ourselves small before God and our brothers, are precisely the attitudes that open us to the Lord’s action”.
The Pope continued his homily by asking the faithful of one of the poorest countries in the world: “Dear brothers and sisters, let us not be afraid of becoming small before God and before one another; of losing our lives, of giving our time (…) to welcome others.”
Francis will conclude his visit to East Timor on Tuesday with a meeting with young people and then fly to Singapore, the last leg of his trip to Asia and Oceania. (With EFE Agency)
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