Pope Francis arrives in Timor-Leste as abuse scandal hangs over visit

Pope Francis has touched down in Timor-Leste – the only Catholic-majority country he will visit on his 12-day Asia-Pacific tour.

Around 700,000 people – more than half of Timor-Leste’s entire population – are expected to attend an open-air mass that the Pope will celebrate near the capital Dili later on Tuesday.

Enthusiasm for the pontiff’s visit is huge, but the Pope is being urged by campaigners to address a recent abuse scandal that tarnished the Church in Timor-Leste, formerly known as East Timor.

A prominent bishop, hailed as an independence hero, is accused of sexually abusing young boys in the Southeast Asian country during the 80s and 90s.

A Vatican spokesman said the church had been aware of the case against Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo in 2019 and had imposed disciplinary measures in 2020, including restrictions on Belo’s movements and a ban on voluntary contact with minors.

In an open letter, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in Oceania said there had “still not been redress for the victims” and called on Pope Francis to use Church money to pay compensation to them.

According to his official schedule, the Pope will not meet with victims, but it is unclear whether he will apologise for the scandal or even whether Bishop Belo will appear alongside him in Dili.

Authorities have also demolished homes and evicted dozens of people in the area where the mass will be held, in a move which has attracted strong criticism from local residents.

“They even demolished our belongings inside the house. Now we have to rent nearby because my children are still in school in this area,” Zerita Correia previously told BBC News.

The homes are located in Tasitolu, a wetland area just outside the capital. Over the past decade, hundreds of people moved there from rural parts of the country.

Many came looking for work in the capital and built basic homes in the area. The government says they are squatting and have no right to live on the land.

Speaking to the BBC, a government minister said that residents were made aware of plans to clear the area in September 2023.

Critics in Timor-Leste have also questioned the decision to spend such large amounts of money on the visit – including US$1m (£762,000) on a brand new altar.

According to the UN, nearly half of the population of Timor Leste currently lives below the national poverty line.

This is the first papal trip to Timor-Leste since Pope John Paul II visited in 1989, when the country was still under Indonesian occupation.

When Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975, only around 20% of East Timorese people were Catholic. That figure now stands at 97%.

The Pope was previously in Papua New Guinea, where around a quarter of its inhabitants describe themselves as Catholic and Indonesia, where that figure is 3%.

Pope Francis will finish his tour in the region in Singapore later this week.

Additional reporting by Amito Araújo in Dili