Tears, memories as fervently Catholic East Timor mourns Pope Francis

By Ananda Teresia

More than 1,500 people packed into a cathedral in East Timor on Tuesday and an overspill of hundreds swarmed outside as one of the world's most devoutly Roman Catholic nations mourned the passing of Pope Francis.

Francis, who died on Monday, received a rock-star reception in the half-island nation last September, when nearly half of the country's population turned out for what was the first visit by a pontiff in three decades.

The former Portuguese colony of 1.3 million people, of whom 97% are Catholic, have begun seven days of mourning, with flags at half-mast to demonstrate what its government said was a deep sense of gratitude to a "great leader of the Catholic Church".

At the cathedral in the capital Dili, solemn prayers were held at a Mass for Francis, while church staff scrambled to find enough communion wafers for all the mourners.

"Pope Francis deserves our grief because he gave us joy when he visited us last year," said Paulus Maia, the priest who led the Mass.

Among those at the Mass was Mari Alkatiri, a former prime minister and now opposition leader, and also a Muslim, who praised the values held by Francis, listing them as "human fraternity, solidarity, issues of environment".

TEARS

Helde Marcal Belo, a civil servant, in tears after the Mass, said he had been moved by Francis' decision to visit East Timor last year as part of a gruelling 12-day tour of Asia and Oceania, the longest of his papacy, despite his advanced age and poor health.

"He taught us about the importance of loving one another," said Belo, 53.

The Catholic faith has a fervent following in East Timor, which together with the Philippines is one of only two predominantly Christian countries in Asia.

East Timor's first ever cardinal, Virgilio do Carmo da Silva was heading on Tuesday to Rome to take part in the conclave of cardinals that will pick the new pope.

The Church remains deeply popular in East Timor, despite being plagued by scandals. In 2022, the Vatican confirmed it had sanctioned Timorese Bishop and Nobel laureate Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo following allegations he sexually abused boys in East Timor in the 1990s.

A year earlier, a defrocked American priest was jailed for sexually abusing girls under his care in East Timor.

At a seaside square in Tacitolo, outside Dili, the site of a gathering by Francis that was also visited by Pope John Paul II in 1989, hundreds of people lit candles and held prayers at a site considered by some to be holy land.

"I was moved because he came here and now he has left us, not even a year after his visit," said Ledy Andrade, 43.

"I pray that he will go to heaven. I will be coming hereuntil the pope's funeral (on Saturday)."