Pope Francis is received like a rock star in one of the most Catholic countries in the world, but an abuse scandal hangs over his visit

Dili, East Timor
CNN
—

Pope Francis received a warm welcome in the small Southeast Asian state of East Timor, one of the most Catholic countries in the world, where almost half the population attended an open-air mass on Tuesday.

The 87-year-old president's visit is the penultimate stop on a marathon tour of Asia and the South Pacific. Local authorities estimate that 600,000 people gathered for the pope's mass, the Vatican told reporters.

Early Tuesday morning, the streets of the capital Dili were packed with cheering crowds, from elderly worshippers to babies in strollers hoping to catch a glimpse of the pope. Photos show a sea of ​​people carrying yellow and white umbrellas, the colors of the Vatican, as far as the eye can see.

Some participants had been waiting in the seaside park where the mass was being held since 4 a.m., more than 12 hours before the event was due to begin. The crowds waited for the Pope in sweltering heat and burst into chants of “Viva Papa Francisco,” which translates to “Long live the Pope,” upon his arrival.

But the issue of sexual abuse by clergy also looms over this part of the Pope's visit to the region, following revelations in recent years about the mistreatment of high-ranking clergy from East Timor.

In his address to the country's political authorities, the Pope called on them to combat “every form of abuse” in order to “guarantee a healthy and peaceful childhood for all young people”.

East Timor, also called Timor-Leste, is one of the youngest countries in the world and has close ties to the Catholic Church, which was influential in the country's turbulent and bloody struggle for independence from Indonesia.

The country, with only 1.3 million inhabitants, is the second most Catholic country in the world. 97% of the population identify as Catholic, the highest proportion outside the Vatican.

The East Timor government provided $12 million for Francis' first visit to this deeply religious country, but this amount has been criticized as a disproportionate burden, given that East Timor's economy remains small and is one of the poorest countries in Asia.

The Pope's visit also sheds new light on the scourge of sexual abuse in the Church and whether Francis will address the issue directly during his stay in East Timor, as he has done in other countries.

Two years ago, the Vatican admitted that it had secretly disciplined East Timor bishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Carlos Ximenes Belo after he was accused of sexually abusing boys decades earlier.

In previous trips abroad, Francis has met with victims of abuse. Although it was not on the official agenda of his visit, some analysts have said that if Pope Francis addresses abuse in East Timor, it would send a strong signal to survivors and those who have not come forward, either in the country itself or in the region.

Pope flies to remote area of ​​Papua New Guinea to show solidarity

Pope Francis' 12-day visit to Asia includes Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore – underscoring a significant shift within the Catholic Church as it turns to Asia.

He is the second pope to visit East Timor, after Pope John Paul II in 1989, but it is the first papal visit since the country gained independence in 2002. The visit comes less than a week after the country marked the 25th anniversary of its decision to secede from Indonesia.

Located between northwest Australia and Indonesia, the country occupies half of the island of Timor and has been used by the Portuguese as a trading post for sandalwood since the 17th century.

The subsequent four hundred years of Portuguese colonial rule led to widespread Catholicism in East Timor and other cultural differences from predominantly Muslim Indonesia.

Today, East Timor's economy is heavily dependent on its oil and gas reserves and still struggles with high levels of poverty as a result of decades of conflict.

Christina Kheng, a theologian who teaches at the East Asian Pastoral Institute, told CNN that the young nation is “still struggling with post-war unity and nation-building.”

Like other countries in the region, East Timor is at the centre of the US and China's bid for influence in Asia, with US ally Australia at the forefront of support.

East Timor is also on track to become the eleventh member of the Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN, which could happen as early as next year.

Bishop Belo and allegations of sexual abuse

A leading democracy activist during the Indonesian occupation was Bishop Belo, the former head of the Catholic Church in East Timor. In 1996, he and President José Ramos-Horta were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to bring about a peaceful end to the conflict.

In 2022, the Vatican confirmed that it had sanctioned Belo two years earlier. Two men had accused him of raping them as teenagers and giving them money to buy their silence.

The Vatican said travel restrictions had been imposed on Belo, who is apparently in Portugal, and that he was “prohibited from voluntary contact with minors, as well as from interviews and contact with East Timor.”

While the allegations against Belo date back to 1980, the Vatican says it was first involved in the case in 2019.

CNN has asked the Vatican whether Bishop Belo's case will be addressed during the Pope's trip.

The Dutch daily newspaper “De Groene Amsterdammer” broke the news and said that its investigations had revealed that other boys were also allegedly victims of Belo’s abuse in the 1980s.

Belo has never been officially charged in East Timor and has never publicly commented on the allegations.

In another case, a court in East Timor in 2021 sentenced dismissed American priest Richard Daschbach to 12 years in prison for sexually abusing young, vulnerable girls in his care.

Daschbach, a missionary who ran a home for orphans in a remote part of the country, admitted to sexually abusing girls in 2018. After his confession, the Vatican excommunicated him from the church.

It was the first time that a priest in East Timor was brought to court on charges of sexual abuse.

Many victims of abuse in East Timor are hesitant to come forward. The reason for this is the church's close ties to the struggle for independence and the government's treatment of the few convicted victims.

Since Pope Francis became the head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics in 2013, numerous reports have been published detailing decades of sexual abuse, systemic failures and cover-ups in numerous countries.

While he has been criticized for some of his actions – such as when he defended a Chilean bishop accused of covering up a sex scandal in 2018 – a decision he later called a “grave mistake,” he has since taken a clear stance on these issues and introduced some reforms, including provisions that allow lay leaders of Vatican-recognized associations to be held accountable for covering up sexual abuse.

The Church and East Timor’s struggle for independence

In the wake of a civil war, East Timor was annexed by Indonesia in 1976 and declared the country's 27th province, after Portugal democratized the country and decided to abandon its colonies the previous year.

Between 1975 and 1999, more than 200,000 people – about a quarter of the population – were killed in fighting and massacres or died of starvation as Indonesian occupying forces attempted to assert control of the country by brutal force.

Indonesia has been condemned by the international community for its crackdown, including in 1991 when its troops massacred young independence supporters at the Santa Cruz Cemetery in East Timor's capital Dili. The arrest and imprisonment of Timorese guerrilla leader and current Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao the following year further fuelled resistance to Indonesian rule.

Only the overthrow of Indonesian President Suharto in 1998 and the subsequent change in policy towards East Timor paved the way for a United Nations-sponsored referendum on East Timor's independence – which was passed in 1999 with over 78.5 percent of the vote.

Soon after the vote, pro-Jakarta militias backed by the Indonesian military began running amok in the capital, killing and looting, attacking churches and assaulting priests and asylum seekers while hunting down independence supporters.

Much of East Timor's infrastructure was destroyed in the violence and around 200,000 people were forced to flee their homes. An international peacekeeping mission led by Australia eventually intervened and East Timor officially gained independence in 2002.

During the Indonesian occupation, the Catholic Church played a major role in defending the population from attacks and in forcing a referendum on independence – its church workers and clergy paid a bloody price for this.