Pope Francis, who died at age 88, according to the Vatican report on Monday (21), prayed a mass to 600,000 people in East Timor in 2024.
It was estimated that just under half of the population attended, under the scorching heat, to the ceremony last September 10.
The Mass was celebrated in a synonymous coastal park of the country’s long struggle for Indonesia’s independence.
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Occupying a wide and dusty area where Indonesian forces buried fighters of the dead Timorese Independence, people arrived around 1 am and sat on the floor, many facing the sun for hours at temperatures of up to 32 degrees Celsius.
Many were sheltered under the white and yellow colors of the Vatican flag, while others carried posters asking for blessings and sang local melodies in one of the largest appearances in proportion to the population of a country in a mass during a papal visit.
Reverend Pedro Amaral, one of the hundreds of priests who celebrated the Mass, said he attended 800 of his parishioners of Zumalai, a village about 140 km away.
“I’m very happy because we never thought we would see the Pope,” said the priest at the time.
Professor Jamie Belo, 60, said he left home 12 hours before Mass to secure a place to see the Pope.
The former Portuguese colony Timor Leste is a half-island nation of 1.3 million people north of Australia and one of the only two predominantly Catholic countries in Asia.
The Vatican estimated that 600,000 people gathered for Tuesday’s Mass. Many in the crowd on the outskirts of Dili, the capital, looked young, with mothers and fathers holding babies or holding children around their legs.
Francisco celebrated the vitality of the “young country”
East Timor lost at least 102,800 people in the 1975-99 conflict with Indonesia, according to the UN. Currently, the country’s average age is 20 years, according to official estimates.
“It’s wonderful that here in East Timor there are so many children!” Said Francisco during his homily at Mass, looking at the crowd.
“In fact, you are a young country, and we can see every corner of your land full of life.”
In makeshift comments at the end of the event, Francisco seemed to repeat earlier alerts about the imposition of Western liberal values on the rest of the world.
Noting that some Timorese beaches have crocodiles, he said to the crowd, “Be careful with these crocodiles that they want to change their culture, their history.”
The Pope’s parade in East Timor was part of an ambitious 12 -day trip through four countries through Southeast Asia and Oceania.
It is probably the most Catholic country in the world, with the Vatican stating that about 96% of Timorese are adept at faith.
Cardinal Carmo da Silva, Archbishop of Dili, expressed “deep gratitude” to Francis in comments after Mass. The Pope’s visit, he said, “marks a fundamental step in the process of building our country, its identity and its culture.”
After the Mass, Francis traveled the large crowd in an open papamobile, waving and offering his blessing.
This content was originally published in Papa Francisco prayed Mass to 600,000 people at East Timor by 2024 on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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