In Dili, Pope says, ‘Children are your wealth’
At the Mass he led in the esplanade of Taci Tolu in front of hundreds of thousands of faithful, Francis warned against “those crocodiles who want to change your culture”. In his address, he urged the local Church to be like the fragrance of sandalwood for which the island of Timor has been known since ancient times. The fragrance of the Gospel “must be used against everything that humiliates, disfigures, and even destroys human life”. Francis urged priests “not make you feel superior to the people”, nor act “like bosses who crush others.”
Dili (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis took his leave from the huge crowd in Taci Tolu Esplanade, about ten kilometres from downtown Dili, who took part in the Mass that marked the high point of the pontiff’s visit to Timor-Leste, the third stage of his apostolic journey to Asia and Oceania.
In his address, Francis said: "I thought a lot: What's the best thing Timor has? The sandal? Fishing? No, the best thing is its people. I cannot forget the people on the side of the road, with children. How many children you have! But beware of those crocodiles who want to change your culture, who want to change your history. Stay loyal. And don't go near those crocodiles because they bite, and they bite a lot."
Hundreds of thousands of people arrived in the early hours of the morning in the historic place where John Paul II led a Eucharistic celebration in 1989 that marked the history of this people, deprived for so long of its independence.
Some estimates put the number at 600,000, almost half of the population of Timor-Leste, but many in the crowd were Indonesian Catholics who came from the other side of the big island, a visible sign of that reconciliation Francis praised yesterday after the long dark years of bloody conflict.
In his homily, the Pope, accompanied by Card Virgilio Carmo da Silva, the apostolic administrator of Dili, whom he chose two years ago to bring this periphery into the College of Cardinals, praised the little ones. Children are the wealth of Timor-Leste.
“You are a young country where you can feel life pulsating, exploding in every corner. This is a gift, a great gift," the Pope said. “But it is a sign even more, because making room for children, for the little ones, welcoming them, taking care of them, making ourselves little before God and in front of each other are precisely the attitudes that open us to the action of the Lord. By becoming children, we allow God's action in us.”
“Let us not be afraid to make ourselves small before God and before one another," Francis stressed. “We are not afraid to lose our lives, to donate our time, to review our programmes, and downsize our projects when necessary, not to diminish them, but to make them even more beautiful through the gift of ourselves and the acceptance of others.”
The pope urged the same thing during the day in other meetings in this small country, which lies on the edge of the great Asian continent.
To the bishops, priests, and pastoral workers, whom he met earlier in the day in Dili cathedral, he pointed to the image of sandalwood that grows in abundance in Timor, a highly sought-after fragrance since ancient times.
He called on the faithful to take this to stress the country’s identity, which is 98 per cent Catholic. "Like a sandalwood tree, evergreen, strong, which grows and produces fruit, you too are missionary disciples perfumed with the Holy Spirit to inebriate the life of your people,” he said.
But the fragrance of the Gospel “must be used against everything that humiliates, disfigures, and even destroys human life, against those wounds that generate inner emptiness and suffering such as alcoholism, violence, lack of respect for the dignity of women.”
Francis called on the priests of Timor-Leste to make themselves small. “I have learnt that the people address you with great affection by calling you Amu, which is the most important title here; it means lord," he noted.
"However, this must not make you feel superior to the people, lead you into the temptation of pride and power; it must not make you think of your ministry as social prestige, acting like bosses who crush others.”
Meeting a group of disabled children at the Irmãs Alma School, he pointed to the Church of Timor-Leste what he calls "the sacrament of the poor."
“When Jesus speaks of the Last Judgment," he said, "Jesus says to some: 'Come with me.' But he does not say: 'Come with me because you have been baptised, because you have been confirmed, because you have been married in Church, because they have not lied, because they have not stolen...'. No! He says: 'Come with me because you have taken care of me.’”
As the motto of this visit to Timor-Leste says, this is a clear task for a community to make faith their culture.
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30/11/2023 16:18
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