Pope urges Dili's young people to freedom, commitment and fraternity
While the whole country still has in its eyes the more than 600,000 people at yesterday's Mass, this morning - in his last appointment in East Timor - Francis met with young people, inviting them to ‘make noise’ to build the future without letting themselves be overcome by individualism. Then the departure for Singapore where the pontiff arrived in the early afternoon.
Singapore (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis arrived in Singapore this afternoon, the last stop on his long apostolic journey through Asia and Oceania that began ten days ago. Welcomed at the international airport by the Minister of Culture, Community and Youth, Edwin Tong, the pontiff moved to the St. Francis Xavier Retreat Centre, which will be his ‘home’ during the two days he will spend in the city-state.
It was here later in the day where he will meet in private with the Jesuit brethren who carry out their ministry locally, the only appointment of the day, while only tomorrow morning his first public address to the Singapore community is scheduled.
In the great metropolis - the crossroads of South-East Asia - Pope Francis arrived from East Timor, where everyone still has in their eyes the immense crowd of over 600,000 people gathered in the Tasi Tolu esplanade for yesterday's great Eucharistic celebration.
An Indonesian missionary, Sr Ignazia, told AsiaNews of the composure of the people despite the long hours of travel to reach the place of celebration with such a large concentration of people: ‘No one seemed tired or annoyed, joy prevailed everywhere.
Even Sr. Immaculata - a nun native of East Timor who together with other sisters from other congregations took care of the flower arrangements both for the celebration in Tasi Tolu and in the cathedral - recounts the enthusiasm of the people who came from all over the country. While Jesuit Joaquin Sarmento emphasises the invitation that Pope Francis has made in recent days to all to ‘revive the witness in society of a lifestyle based on the Christian faith’.
The path before East Timor was also the focus of Pope Francis' last appointment in Dili, the meeting with young people at the Centro de Convenções, which took place early in the morning, before his departure for Singapore.
While recalling the ‘marvellous examples of faith, martyrdom, and above all forgiveness and reconciliation’ of the generations that preceded them, the Pontiff invited the many young people who live in this country to ‘make a fuss’, to become protagonists of the future of this land. ‘Do not stop smiling,’ he told them, ’and you young people are the majority of the population of this land, and your presence fills this land with life, fills it with hope and fills it with the future. In a tight dialogue, he warned them against the ‘sellers of happiness coming to sell you drugs and things that give you happiness for half an hour, nothing more’; he invited them to ‘dream big things’, to say no more to bullying, to cultivate love and service, to respect the elderly. But he pointed - in particular - to three words as a guide on the way: freedom, commitment and fraternity.
On the subject of freedom, Francis borrowed an expression from the Tetum language, the native language of the East Tiomr community, which sits alongside Portuguese here: ukun rasik-an, which literally means ‘each one governs himself’. ‘A young man or a young woman who are not able to govern themselves, who are not able to live like this what are they? They are slaves.’
On commitment, Pope Francis quoted one of the many proverbs that are a source of wisdom for the peoples of the East. ‘It says that ‘difficult times create strong men’, and that ‘strong men create easy times’, but then adds that ‘easy times create weak men’ and that ‘weak men create difficult times’,’ he quoted. ‘Look at your parents, your grandparents, who had to face difficult times to build the country's freedom. That is why you have to learn to deal with difficult times’.
And then fraternity: ‘Be brothers, not enemies,’ he admonished. ‘Hate no, love and service yes. And if a young man or woman, quarrels with another young man, what must he or she do? Love and reconciliation'. ‘Dear young people,’ he concluded, ’be heirs to the beautiful history that has preceded you. And carry it on. Have courage'.
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