Asia-Pacific Catholics rejoice over Pope’s visit

Catholic communities across Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste are eagerly anticipating Pope Francis’ visit to their countries, set to kick off next week.

In Jakarta, two major football stadiums are being prepared for a massive gathering of worshipers at a Mass led by Francis, who is scheduled to arrive in Indonesia on Tuesday, the first leg of a 12-day trip. 

The pontiff’s later visit to Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor) comes in the shadow of a scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in this tiny nation next door to Indonesia.

Antonius Subianto Bunjamin, chairman of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference, held a news conference earlier this week to convey what Francis’ visit means for Indonesian Catholics,  religious minority in the world’s most populous majority-Muslim country.

“This visit is not only about the pope’s presence but also about practicing his teachings in daily life,” he said on Wednesday.

“We have been holding … prayers for a smooth visit.”

Of 280 million Indonesians, around 3% are Catholic and 7% are Protestant. 

Francis will meet with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the Presidential Palace, attend an interfaith gathering at the Istiqlal Mosque – the largest in Southeast Asia – and engage with Catholic religious leaders at the adjacent Jakarta Cathedral during the visit scheduled for Sept. 3-6.

Francis’ trip to Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea would be his longest overseas journey since he became pontiff, according to Catholic theologian Michel Chambon, who is based in Singapore, the final stop on the pope’s journey.

“Pope Francis is scheduled to visit four countries – Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore – in 12 days, flying more than 28,000 kilometers (17,398 miles),” Chambon said in an interview to an independent service called the Union of Catholic Asian News.

“It is the most extensive trip Francis has made since becoming pope in 2013. Many are surprised that he is doing this at 87 despite ailments. The answer will come from some of the places he visits.”

Chambon spoke about Timor-Leste, “a rare country,” he said, with 98% of its population being Catholic.

“Timor dismisses the existing narratives about Asian Catholicism as colonial and marginal,” Chambon said, adding, that is the reason Francis wants to turn the spotlight on this country. 

“The rest of the church needs to listen to the recent history of Timor.”

For Catholics in Jakarta, their most anticipated event is Francis conducting a Holy Mass at Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Stadium on Sept. 5.

An estimated 60,000 people are expected to gather, with an additional 25,000 – mostly students and educators – attending the overflow event at the nearby Madya Stadium. 

Francis will address the crowds at both venues, traveling between them in an open vehicle, Thomas said. 

He will be the third pontiff to visit Indonesia. 

Francis’ predecessor, John Paul II, visited in October 1989 for five days, stopping in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Maumere, Medan, and Dili, in what is now the independent state of Timor-Leste.

Pope Paul VI was the first to visit Indonesia, when he held a Mass at what is now Gelora Bung Karno.

Benedicta Dwi, a 38-year-old Catholic from Yogyakarta, expressed her joy at the pope’s visit. 

“It’s a rare blessing, as the last time a pope visited Indonesia was 35 years ago,” she told BenarNews. 

“Although I’d love to attend the Mass in Jakarta, I can’t because it’s by invitation only, and each city has its quota,” she said. 

By starting this trip in Indonesia, the pope underscores the country’s pivotal role in fostering interfaith dialogue, church leaders said.

“The pope is the most influential leader on humanitarian issues globally,” said Jakarta’s archbishop, Cardinal Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, noting the pope’s focus on serving marginalized communities.

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Following his time in Indonesia, Francis will travel to Papua New Guinea from Sept. 6-9, with a key focus on the small coastal city of Vanimo, near the border with Indonesia’s restive Papua region.

Vanimo, accessible only by plane or boat, has been transformed as the local Catholic community intensifies preparations for the pope’s visit, said Father Martín Prado, a missionary from the Institute of the Incarnate Word who has served in Vanimo for a decade.

The community has improvised a venue on the local football pitch, where nightly prayers, hymns, and traditional dances have drawn large crowds, with up to 4,000 people attending some evenings.

“The Holy Father’s visit to Papua New Guinea, especially to Vanimo, was greeted with great surprise and joy by everyone,” Prado told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), an international Catholic charity, according to an interview published on the organization’s website.

“Due to limited access to news and social media, not many people were aware that he was traveling,” he said.

“We are all very excited and working hard to be able to welcome the pope as best as we can, despite the simplicity and poverty in which we live.”

Prado described the local faith as “very much alive and very simple,” though still deeply influenced by ancestral beliefs. 

Christianity was introduced to Papua New Guinea a mere 70 years ago.

“Many still interpret Christianity through the framework of their ancestral faiths, as the indigenous spirituality is still very influential,” he said.

Francis will then travel to Timor-Leste, where he is set to arrive on Sept. 9. He will leave for Singapore on Sept. 11.

In Timor-Leste, he will meet with President José Ramos-Horta and local authorities, visit children with disabilities at the “Alma Sisters” School, celebrate Mass at Taci Tolu, and address the youth of Timor-Leste at the Dili Convention Center.

“It is with great expectation and enthusiasm that we await the arrival of Pope Francis,” Tomás do Rosário Cabral, deputy general coordinator for the visit, was quoted as saying in a statement on the Timor government website.

He added that the visit would be “a spiritual renewal for all Timorese, inspiring each of us to continue building a society based on the values of peace, solidarity, and fraternity.”

The young nation on Aug. 30 marked the 25th anniversary of a U.N.-backed referendum in which the Timorese people voted for independence from Indonesia, which had occupied it since invading East Timor in December 1975.

However, Francis will be visiting amid a scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in Timor-Leste.

In 2022, the Vatican acknowledged that Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning East Timorese independence hero, had sexually abused young boys. 

This revelation brought the global clergy sexual abuse scandal to Asia’s newest country, casting a shadow over the Church’s credibility.

A Dutch journalist, Tjiyske Lingsma, played a key role in bringing the abuse cases to public attention. Her investigation into Belo’s case was published in September 2022 by De Groene Amsterdammer magazine. 

The day after the report was released, the Vatican confirmed that Belo had been secretly sanctioned two years earlier, a revelation that shocked many in Timor-Leste.

Lingsma told the Associated Press news agency in a recent interview from Amsterdam that an acknowledgment from Francis while in Timor-Leste would be meaningful to the victims. 

She said: “I think this is the time for the pope to say some words to the victims, to apologize.” 

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