Pope Francis Arrives in East Timor, Asia’s Youngest and Most Catholic Country

The country is overwhelmingly Catholic, with Catholics making up 98% of East Timor’s 1.3 million people.

East Timor’s President José Manuel Ramos-Horta, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and a prominent figure in East Timor’s struggle for independence, describes his country as “the second most Catholic country after Vatican City.”

Pope Francis’ visit to East Timor marks the 25th anniversary of its independence in which the Catholic Church played an important role in advocating for human rights.

Huge crowds lined the streets of Dili for miles for the pope’s arrival, waving Vatican flags and standing under special yellow-and-white Vatican-themed umbrellas for relief from the midday sun.

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At the official welcome ceremony at the presidential palace, Pope Francis received a 21-gun salute and an honor guard before 29 children in traditional clothes offered the pope flowers and placed a traditional Timorese Tais cloth on his shoulders. Many women at the papal welcome wore Catholic chapel veils with some wiping away tears at the sight of the pope as the young country’s national anthem played.

The pope encouraged the new country, which has struggled since gaining independence, to follow Catholic social teaching and invest in education as it continues to develop.

“You are a young people. I am not referring to your culture and history, which are rather ancient, but to the fact that about 65% of East Timor’s population is under the age of 30,” Francis commented.

“This statistic tells us that the first area for you to invest in is education, in the family, and in schools,” he added.

In the years after East Timor gained its independence, the country had one of the highest fertility rates in the world with nearly seven births per mother.

Pope Francis’ visit to Timor East comes at a time when the young country is reckoning with a sexual abuse scandal. Timorese Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, a national hero and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was sanctioned by the Vatican in response to allegations that the prelate had abused boys for decades. The Vatican placed disciplinary restrictions on Belo in 2020, limiting his movement and banning him from contact with minors.

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Speaking to East Timorese officials and dignitaries Pope Francis in his address inside the presidential palace alluded to the scandal by underlining the importance of safeguarding young people to protect them.

“Let us also not forget that these children and adolescents have their dignity violated — the phenomenon is emerging all over the world. In response, we are all called to do everything possible to prevent every kind of abuse and guarantee a healthy and peaceful childhood for all young people,” Francis said.

The pope also expressed his concern over the “scourge” of gang violence, describing how fights between rival martial arts clubs have led to deaths and injuries. A national ban on martial arts training in East Timor was among the government’s tightened security protocols implemented for the papal visit.

“These gang members are trained in martial arts, but instead of using this knowledge in the service of the defenseless, they use it as an opportunity to showcase the fleeting and harmful power of violence,” the pope said.

East Timor is one of the least-visited countries in the world. The two official languages are Tetum and Portuguese, a legacy of Portugal’s centuries of colonial rule of the island.

The small country, which is roughly the same size as Connecticut, uses the U.S. dollar as its currency. It is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia with more than 40% of the population living below the national poverty line.

East Timor is the third stop on the pope’s Sept. 2–13 trip to four countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania. While in East Timor, the pope will meet with youth, address the island’s clergy in one of the largest cathedrals in Southeast Asia, and preside over a massive outdoor Mass, which hundreds of thousands are expected to attend.

Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.