With 1.3 million inhabitants, East Timor is a very small country. But when half of the population is concentrated in a few hectares, it is no less impressive. On Tuesday, September 10, around 600,000 people, according to local authorities, said “Amen” In unison, they all cheered Pope Francis, who had come to celebrate a historic mass in this young democracy where 97% of the inhabitants declare themselves Catholic. In front of the Argentine Pope, a sea of yellow and white umbrellas, the colours of the Vatican, protected the crowd dressed in T-shirts with his image from the scorching sun. Some had arrived during the night to be in the front row. Gathered in an open space in Tasitolu, a coastal town west of Dili, the capital, the Timorese were able to devote themselves fully to the arrival of the pontiff: the State had declared three days of public holidays for the occasion.
Along the road leading to the meeting, every shop or business has its own advertising sign celebrating the arrival of the head of the Catholic Church, while a tide of people heads towards the place. “I am delighted, very happy” testifies Federico, 34, with large iridescent sunglasses on his eyes. “Everyone is excited: it is the first time the Pope has come to East Timor”says the young man. He is right in law: when John Paul II presided over a mass in the same place in 1989, East Timor was still a province of Indonesia. The Pope’s arrival was a message of hope for an oppressed people, and a way of putting pressure on Indonesia, which had invaded the territory after the withdrawal of the Portuguese coloniser in 1975.
Today, it is seen as a recognition of a state that only achieved official independence in 2002, three years after the departure of Indonesian troops, who had left a country in ruins. On Monday, September 9, the Pope also called on the country to continue on the path of reconciliation: “In particular, I would like to recall and salute your diligent efforts to achieve full reconciliation with your brothers in Indonesia. an attitude that found its first and purest source in the teachings of the Gospel. » For such a recent conflict, relations with Indonesia are effectively peaceful: many Timorese study or work in Indonesia and, on Tuesday, groups of Catholics came from Indonesian Timor, the western half of the island, to take part in the mass.
“Younger generations no longer know history”
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