By AFP
September 7, 2024
Pope Francis will visit East Timor, Asia's youngest nation, for three days - Copyright AFP/File Valentino Dariell DE SOUSA
Jack Moore with Clement Melki in Port Moresby
When Pope Francis becomes the first pontiff to visit an independent East Timor, he will confront a clergy beset by child abuse scandals that have been largely ignored by the deeply Catholic country’s freedom heroes.
Cases include Nobel-winning Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, who helped Asia’s youngest nation free itself from Indonesian occupation, but who the Vatican secretly punished over claims he had sexually abused young children for decades.
There are calls for the 87-year-old pontiff to speak out on child abuse when he lands in the former Portuguese colony Monday as part of his Asia-Pacific tour.
“We ask Your Holiness to encourage the leaders and the people of Timor-Leste to take more effective measures to prevent sexual abuse,” the Timor-Leste NGO Forum, a civil society coalition, wrote in a letter Wednesday to Francis.
BishopAccountability.org, a documentation centre on Catholic Church abuse, also called on the Vatican’s sexual abuse commission chief, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, to “urge” Francis to “be the victims’ champion” on his visit.
Catholic-majority East Timor is one of many countries that has suffered the global scourge of child abuse by members of the clergy long veiled in secrecy.
In 2002 Pope John Paul II accepted the abrupt resignation of Bishop Belo, then the head of East Timor’s church, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.
The Vatican said it was for health reasons but did not explain further.
It then permitted him to be sent to Mozambique as a missionary where he worked with children, before he moved to Portugal.
The Vatican secretly sanctioned the bishop in 2020 after claims he sexually abused underage boys over a 20-year period up to 2002.
It banned Belo from any contact with children or with East Timor, conditions it said he formally accepted.
Only when Dutch magazine De Groene Amsterdammer reported the restrictions in 2022, including testimony from a victim who said they were raped by Belo, did the Vatican go public.
The Dutch magazine report’s author says allegations about Belo were known in 2002.
Francis later suggested the decision to let Belo retire instead of face consequences was made when attitudes were different.
– Widespread support –
The bishop had won the Nobel Prize for his defence of human rights during the Indonesian occupation, which lasted more than two decades.
He is revered at home for sheltering young demonstrators and saving their lives.
It has helped him retain strong support among the country’s 1.3 million people, of which 98 percent are Catholic.
“We feel we have lost him. We miss him,” Maria Dadi, East Timor national youth council president, told AFP.
“Because after all he really contributed to the struggle of Timor-Leste.”
In another case, defrocked American priest Richard Daschbach was found guilty in 2021 of abusing orphaned, disadvantaged girls.
He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but has also found support at the highest levels of Timorese society.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao courted controversy last year when he visited Daschbach to celebrate his birthday and shared cake with the convicted paedophile. He also attended his trial.
For many in the country, they favour Belo returning for the pope’s visit.
“We are very sad without the presence of Bishop Belo,” said 58-year-old academic Francisco Amaral da Silva.
“The government and the Catholic Church should invite him.”
East Timor’s presidential office did not respond to a request for comment. President Jose Ramos-Horta has said punishments for Belo should be handled by the Vatican.
– ‘Limited value’ –
The pontiff will meet with the Catholic faithful, children, Jesuits and preside over a huge mass during his stay in the capital Dili.
But it remains unclear if he will raise cases that have shocked observers of one of the world’s poorest countries.
The pope’s schedule does not include a meeting with victims, and the Vatican did not comment before he departed Rome.
Yet he could ad-lib the subject in one of his speeches, which would be a strong gesture.
Francis could also meet victims privately as he has done before, the latest on a 2023 Portugal trip.
But survivor advocates said the pope must acknowledge the sexual violence by Church officials on East Timorese children, including by Belo.
“Those abused by Bishop Belo and other clergy will expect a public statement by Pope Francis on the Church’s continued failure to deal with its wayward clergy,” said Tony Gribben, founder of the Northern Ireland-based Dromore survivors group.
Gribben said a meeting would “have limited value”, citing apologies given by Francis to abuse victims on an Ireland trip in 2018.
“The event was a well-crafted PR exercise,” he added.
“But since then, it’s business as usual.”
Sporting a feathered headdress, Pope Francis finds 'Eden' in Papua New Guinea
Pope Francis traveled to the remote jungles of Papua New Guinea on Sunday to celebrate the Catholic Church of the peripheries. While 90 percent of Papua New Guinea's 12 million residents call themselves Christian, religion sits longside a panoply of local beliefs, customs and rites – some of which spark bloody zeal.
Issued on: 08/09/2024 -
Pope Francis takes part in a meeting with Catholic faithful of the diocese of Vanimo in front of Holy Cross Cathedral in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, on September 8, 2024.
© Tiziana Fabi, AFP
By: NEWS WIRES
Pope Francis visited a remote jungle-flanked community in Papua New Guinea Sunday, where he urged an end to violence, and "superstition and magic" that tarnishes a place he likened to Eden.
The 87-year-old pontiff touched down in Vanimo, a coastal town a few degrees south of the equator, as he marked the halfway point of a gruelling 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific.
Donning a traditional Bird of Paradise feathered headdress despite the stiffing tropical heat, the pope drove home his pledge to embrace people and places on "the periphery".
Pope Francis attends a meeting with Catholic faithful of the diocese of Vanimo in front of Holy Cross Cathedral in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, on September 8, 2024. © Tiziana Fabi, AFP
He described Vanimo as a "grandiose spectacle of nature bursting forth with life, all evoking the image of Eden".
He was greeted as a guest of honour by bare-chested Walsa tribesmen with body paint, ornate headdresses and bands made of feathers, shells and grass, who performed a ceremonial dance.
The pope thanked the assembled thousands, some of whom had walked or sailed for days to come and see him, and praised the "contagious smiles and your exuberant joy" of local children.
But he also painted this as a troubled paradise.
He urged the faithful and a handful of local missionaries to help "overcome divisions -- personal, family and tribal" and "to drive out fear, superstition and magic from people's hearts".
Religion alongside local beliefs
These and other evils, he said, "imprison and take away the happiness of so many of our brothers and sisters, even in this country".
More than 90 percent of Papua New Guinea's 12 million residents call themselves Christian, and about quarter of those are Catholic.
Faithful of the Diocese of Vanimo wait for the arrival of Pope Francis at the Esplanade in front of Holy Cross Cathedral in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea on September 8, 2024. © Tiziana Fabi, AFP
But the religion sits alongside a panoply of local beliefs, customs and rites -- some of which spark bloody zeal.
Pockets of Papua New Guinea are plagued by tribal violence and deeply rooted beliefs about the existence of witchcraft.
Village mobs routinely round up those falsely accused of black magic, usually women, murdering them in gruesome ordeals.
He described Vanimo as a "grandiose spectacle of nature bursting forth with life, all evoking the image of Eden".
He was greeted as a guest of honour by bare-chested Walsa tribesmen with body paint, ornate headdresses and bands made of feathers, shells and grass, who performed a ceremonial dance.
The pope thanked the assembled thousands, some of whom had walked or sailed for days to come and see him, and praised the "contagious smiles and your exuberant joy" of local children.
But he also painted this as a troubled paradise.
He urged the faithful and a handful of local missionaries to help "overcome divisions -- personal, family and tribal" and "to drive out fear, superstition and magic from people's hearts".
Religion alongside local beliefs
These and other evils, he said, "imprison and take away the happiness of so many of our brothers and sisters, even in this country".
More than 90 percent of Papua New Guinea's 12 million residents call themselves Christian, and about quarter of those are Catholic.
Faithful of the Diocese of Vanimo wait for the arrival of Pope Francis at the Esplanade in front of Holy Cross Cathedral in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea on September 8, 2024. © Tiziana Fabi, AFPBut the religion sits alongside a panoply of local beliefs, customs and rites -- some of which spark bloody zeal.
Pockets of Papua New Guinea are plagued by tribal violence and deeply rooted beliefs about the existence of witchcraft.
Village mobs routinely round up those falsely accused of black magic, usually women, murdering them in gruesome ordeals.
Pope Francis is leading holy mass at the Sir Guise Stadium during his four day visit to Papua New Guinea from September 6-9. © Tiziana Fabi, AFP
Australian researchers have estimated about 3,000 deaths in over the last 20 years.
The pope urged his flock to tackle such social ills head on, and to remake the image of their nation.
"Make Papua New Guinea famous not only for its variety of plant and animal life, its enchanting beaches and clear sea, but famous above all for the good people you meet here," he said.
It is a message that has resonated with Papua New Guineans, many of whom hope the pope's visit can transform their nation.
Earlier Sunday, the pope held a mass for 35,000 people in the capital, Port Moresby.
Margaret Clive, an elderly street vendor in the capital, said that many people had complained about the pope's visit, asking what it would bring them.
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"I am happy Pope is here" she said. "He is a world religious leader bringing the message of peace."
"There is a lot of violence against women and children, here in the city, the youth are snatching bags from mothers who market."
"Christian principles are hidden while our sinful ways are transparent, we need change."
There he will encounter a resolutely Catholic nation, but one in which the clergy has been beset by child abuse scandals.
(AFP)
In Papua New Guinea, Pope holds mass ‘at the edge of the world’
By AFP
September 7, 2024
The 87-year-old pontiff led an estimated 35,000 people in prayer from Port Moresby's main stadium - Copyright AFP Tiziana FABI
Pope Francis held an open-air mass for tens of thousands of Papua New Guinea’s faithful on Sunday, imploring this nation “at the edge of the world” to embrace the Catholic faith.
The 87-year-old pontiff led an estimated 35,000 people in prayer from Port Moresby’s main stadium, the latest stop on this gruelling 12-day trip across the Asia-Pacific.
He appeared before a startling mix of green-robed clergy, worshippers in starched Sunday whites and tribesmen and women in feathered headdresses and reed skirts, who tapped out songs of worship on hour-glass shaped kundu drums.
His homily carried a familiar theme of his papacy — bringing those on the “periphery” closer to faith, and the vast Catholic Church he leads.
“Brothers and sisters, you who live on this large island in the Pacific Ocean may sometimes have thought of yourselves as a far away and distant land, situated at the edge of the world,” he said.
“Today the Lord wants to draw near to you, to break down distances”.
More than 90 percent of Papua New Guinea’s 12 million residents consider themselves Christian, but the religion sits alongside a panoply of local beliefs, customs and rites.
About a quarter of Papua New Guineans are Catholic.
Later on Sunday, the pope will travel even further into the “periphery”, to the remote jungle town of Vanimo, in Papua New Guinea’s northwest.
Australian researchers have estimated about 3,000 deaths in over the last 20 years.
The pope urged his flock to tackle such social ills head on, and to remake the image of their nation.
"Make Papua New Guinea famous not only for its variety of plant and animal life, its enchanting beaches and clear sea, but famous above all for the good people you meet here," he said.
It is a message that has resonated with Papua New Guineans, many of whom hope the pope's visit can transform their nation.
Earlier Sunday, the pope held a mass for 35,000 people in the capital, Port Moresby.
Margaret Clive, an elderly street vendor in the capital, said that many people had complained about the pope's visit, asking what it would bring them.
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morningSubscribe
"I am happy Pope is here" she said. "He is a world religious leader bringing the message of peace."
"There is a lot of violence against women and children, here in the city, the youth are snatching bags from mothers who market."
"Christian principles are hidden while our sinful ways are transparent, we need change."
There he will encounter a resolutely Catholic nation, but one in which the clergy has been beset by child abuse scandals.
(AFP)
In Papua New Guinea, Pope holds mass ‘at the edge of the world’
By AFP
September 7, 2024
The 87-year-old pontiff led an estimated 35,000 people in prayer from Port Moresby's main stadium - Copyright AFP Tiziana FABI
Pope Francis held an open-air mass for tens of thousands of Papua New Guinea’s faithful on Sunday, imploring this nation “at the edge of the world” to embrace the Catholic faith.
The 87-year-old pontiff led an estimated 35,000 people in prayer from Port Moresby’s main stadium, the latest stop on this gruelling 12-day trip across the Asia-Pacific.
He appeared before a startling mix of green-robed clergy, worshippers in starched Sunday whites and tribesmen and women in feathered headdresses and reed skirts, who tapped out songs of worship on hour-glass shaped kundu drums.
His homily carried a familiar theme of his papacy — bringing those on the “periphery” closer to faith, and the vast Catholic Church he leads.
“Brothers and sisters, you who live on this large island in the Pacific Ocean may sometimes have thought of yourselves as a far away and distant land, situated at the edge of the world,” he said.
“Today the Lord wants to draw near to you, to break down distances”.
More than 90 percent of Papua New Guinea’s 12 million residents consider themselves Christian, but the religion sits alongside a panoply of local beliefs, customs and rites.
About a quarter of Papua New Guineans are Catholic.
Later on Sunday, the pope will travel even further into the “periphery”, to the remote jungle town of Vanimo, in Papua New Guinea’s northwest.
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