Pope Francis arrives in East Timor as abuse scandal looms over go to

Pope Francis has arrived in East Timor, the one majority-Catholic nation he’ll go to throughout his 12-day Asia-Pacific tour.

About 700,000 individuals, greater than half of East Timor’s inhabitants, are anticipated to attend an open-air Mass the pope will have fun later Tuesday close to the capital Dili.

Enthusiasm for the papal go to is excessive, however activists are urging him to handle the current abuse scandal that has tainted the Church in East Timor, previously often called Timor-Leste.

A outstanding bishop hailed as an independence hero has been accused of sexually abusing younger boys within the Southeast Asian nation within the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties.

A Vatican spokesman mentioned the church was conscious of the 2019 case in opposition to Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Carlos Jiménez Bello and took disciplinary measures in 2020, together with proscribing Bello’s actions and banning contact with minors Voluntary contact.

The Oceania Survivors Community of Priestly Abuse mentioned in an open letter that “victims stay with out compensation” and referred to as on Pope Francis to make use of church funds to pay them.

In keeping with his official schedule, the pope won’t meet with the victims, however it’s unclear whether or not he’ll apologize for the scandal and even whether or not Bishop Bello will seem with him in Dili.

The authorities additionally Demolish properties and evict dozens of individuals Crowds gathered within the space the place the Mass was held, a transfer that drew robust criticism from native residents.

“They even demolished the contents of our home. Now we’ve to hire a home close by as a result of my kids nonetheless go to high school on this space,” Zerita Correa beforehand advised BBC Information.

The homes are positioned in Tasitolu, a wetland on the outskirts of the capital. Over the previous decade, tons of of individuals have moved there from rural areas of the nation.

Many individuals got here to the capital in quest of work and constructed fundamental homes within the space. The federal government says they’re squatters and don’t have any proper to reside on the land.

A authorities minister advised the BBC that residents had been knowledgeable of plans to clear the realm in September 2023.

Critics in East Timor have additionally questioned the choice to spend a lot cash on the go to, together with $1 million (£762,000) to construct a model new altar.

In keeping with the United Nations, almost half of Timor-Leste’s inhabitants at the moment lives under the nationwide poverty line.

That is the primary papal go to to East Timor since Pope John Paul II visited the nation in 1989, when the nation was nonetheless underneath Indonesian occupation.

When Indonesia invaded the previous Portuguese colony in 1975, solely about 20% of East Timorese had been Catholic. Now that quantity is 97%.

Papua New Guinea, the place the Pope has beforehand visited, has a few quarter of its residents claiming to be Catholic, in contrast with 3% in Indonesia.

Pope Francis will finish his go to to the area in Singapore later this week.

Extra reporting by Amito Araújo in Dili