“A moment of great blessing": This is how the government of East Timor announced Pope Francis’ visit to its citizens. For the most Catholic country in the world (after the Vatican), with a population over 97% Catholics, the arrival of the head of the Church — and the first visit of a pope since the country's liberation from the Indonesian yoke in 2002 — is an extraordinary event, and it was evident everywhere you looked.
From the moment Pope Francis's plane landed at the airport in the capital Dili, the whole city began to buzz with joy, the incessant noise transforming into a clamor as the white papamobile passed by. On the tarmac, airport employees had already departed from protocol by kneeling before the Pontiff to receive his blessing.
Smiles, tears, gestures of devotion (holding up crosses, statues of the Blessed Virgin or even bottles of water for the pope to bless as he passed): The pontiff's presence was without doubt the greatest gift an entire nation could ask for. A young nation, but united in the faith it has inherited from the Portuguese colonists — and also from the ordeal of the bloody occupation by Indonesian forces.
National public holidays to favor participation
In anticipation of this historic arrival, the government of this impoverished country had organized a plan to facilitate the Pope's travels, whose routes became meeting points for all inhabitants present in the port city, despite the sometimes stifling heat. The police, military and volunteer scouts — the latter mobilized to assist the security forces — were overwhelmed by the widespread fervor.
The massive presence of Timorese on the roads was due to another unique government decision: It asked them to “actively participate” in the Pope's visit by greeting him as he passed. It even declared three public holidays on September 9, 10, and 11.
“We would’ve come anyway,” admits Maria, a young Timorese woman who was looking forward to taking part in Tuesday's mass, an event which attracted around 600,000 people, equivalent to nearly 50% of the country's population.
