Around half of Timor-Leste’s 1.3 million people – 97 per cent of whom are Catholic – attended an outdoor Mass celebrated by Pope Francis outside the capital Dili yesterday. Source: The Tablet.
The crowd sheltered from the sun under yellow and white umbrellas waiting for the Mass at the Taci Tolu protected coastal area about five miles from the city, the same site where John Paul II celebrated Mass when his visited in 1989 during the East Timorese independence struggle.
Most of the hundreds of thousands present had walked there from across the island, while tens of thousands of others who could not get into the site lined the roads there, some dancing in traditional costumes.
At the end of the Mass, the Archbishop of Dili, Cardinal Virgilio da Silva, thanked Pope Francis for his visit which, he said, had played an important role in supporting the development of East Timor and demonstrated “the Church’s commitment to serving the poor”.
Pope Francis yesterday also called on clergy to serve with humility and to spread the “fragrance of the Gospel” during a meeting with bishops, priests, religious and catechists in Dili’s Immaculate Conception Cathedral, CNS reports.
In a predominantly Catholic country where clergy are treated with great respect, they must make extra efforts to remain humble servants of their people, Pope Francis told the priests of Timor-Leste.
Respect “should not make you think of your ministry as bestowing social prestige, acting as leaders who crush others,” the Pope said.
“The gesture that the faithful make here when they meet priests is meaningful: they take your consecrated hand and bring it close to their foreheads as a sign of blessing,” he said.
“It is beautiful to see in this gesture the affection of God’s holy people, for the priest is an instrument of blessing. Never take advantage of this role. You should always bless and console; always be a minister of compassion and a sign of God’s mercy.”
Pope Francis yesterday also visited children with disabilities at a Catholic school and met privately with members of the Society of Jesus at the apostolic nunciature.
FULL STORY
Half of East Timor’s people attend papal Mass in Dili (By Ellen Teague, The Tablet)
Traditional respect for clergy in Timor-Leste must not be exploited, Pope says (By Cindy Wooden, CNS)
