Pope Francis hosted a mass for hundreds of thousands of devotees in East Timor on Tuesday, rallying the faithful of the most Catholic country outside the Vatican in tropical heat.
Pilgrims have clamoured to the capital to catch a glimpse of the 87-year-old pontiff, greeting him with a rapturous reception in a coastal area of Dili ahead of his sermon.
Around 600,000 people were in attendance at the mass as it got underway, the Vatican said in a statement, citing local authorities.
It was the main event of the third leg of Francis’s 12-day Asia-Pacific tour, which has already taken in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and will conclude in Singapore.
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Many arrived for the mass hours early to get a prime spot, waiting in the heat.
Firefighters sprayed devotees with water, and many held white-and-yellow Vatican umbrellas to protect themselves from the glaring sun.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao joined crowds to lift spirits with a sing-along, before pouring water into the mouths of those waiting to perform for Pope Francis.
Colossal Crowd
On his first day in East Timor, Francis addressed the country’s leaders, hailing a new era of “peace” since independence in 2002, and also called on them to prevent abuse against young people in a nod to recent Catholic Church child abuse scandals.
But it was the mass that rallied the faithful of Asia’s youngest country.
Around 300,000 people had officially registered for the mass, the government said.
Hundreds of thousands were estimated to have shown up, bringing an estimated total to nearly half the country’s entire population, according to the Vatican.
The sheer number of people descending on Dili caused at least one local telecom company to inform customers their signal would be affected by the pope’s visit.
In 2023, around a million people congregated in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa for Pope Francis’s visit.
The record is still held by Philippine capital Manila in 2015 where more than six million people are believed to have gathered to see Francis.
This visit is only the second papal trip to East Timor, where around 98 percent of the population is Catholic, after John Paul II in 1989.
Cost Criticism
East Timor’s capital had a $12 million makeover before the visit, including $1 million spent on an altar where the pope will sit on stage next to a crucifix.
The cost has attracted criticism because East Timor is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Rights groups also say some makeshift homes were demolished in preparation for the mass. The government says they were erected illegally.
Jack Moore and Clement Melki, with AFP
