The crowd in Timor-Leste, population 1.3 million, was believed to represent the biggest turnout for a papal event ever, in terms of the proportion of the national population.
It was held on Tuesday on the same field where Saint John Paul II prayed 35 years ago during the nation's fight for independence from
Other papal masses have drawn millions of people in more populous countries, such as the Philippines, and there were other nationalities represented at Tuesday's mass. Tasitolu is said to have been a site where Indonesian troops disposed of bodies killed during their 24-year rule of Timor-Leste. As many as 200,000 people were killed over a quarter-century. Now it is known as the "Park of Peace" and features a larger-than-life-sized statue of John Paul to commemorate his October 12, 1989 mass, when the Polish pope shamed Indonesia for its human rights abuses and encouraged the overwhelmingly Catholic Timorese faithful.
Cardinal Carmo da Silva, the archbishop of Dili, told the crowd at the end of the Mass that John Paul's visit "marked the decisive step in our process of self-determination", and that Francis' visit to the same place "marks a fundamental step in the process of building our country, its identity and its culture".
People wait for Pope Francis to arrive at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Dili, East Timor, on Tuesday, September 10, 2024. "For us, the pope is a reflection of the Lord Jesus, as a shepherd who wants to see his sheep, so we come to him with all our hearts as our worship," said Alfonso de Jesus, who also came from Baucau, the country's second-largest city after Dili.
According to Associated Press reporting at the time, the men unfurled a banner in front of the altar and hurled chairs at police. One banner read "Fretilin Welcomes You," a reference to the independence movement that fought Indonesian rule since Timor-Leste was annexed in 1976 after Portugal dismantled its centuries-old colonial empire.
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