Half of East Timor’s Population Participates with Pope in Holy Communion Ceremony
Half of East Timor’s population joined Pope Francis in a spiritual ceremony of Holy Communion.
East Timor is a former Portuguese colony with a population of 1.3 million and is one of the Catholic countries in Asia. Although East Timor lost around 103,000 people in the struggle for independence from Indonesia, the crowds that gathered alongside Pope Francis in Dili, the capital of this country, which is home to one of the largest Catholic populations, were enormous.
According to statements from the Vatican, approximately 96 percent of East Timor’s people follow the Catholic faith, and the country is arguably the most Catholic nation in the world.
According to Reuters, 600,000 people from East Timor participated in the prayer and Holy Communion ceremony in the presence of Pope Francis in a park that commemorated the struggle for independence from Indonesia. The crowd remained at the ceremony for hours in 32-degree heat, with some children and women being transported to hospitals due to illness.
The grand Holy Communion ceremony was held with the unity of East Timor’s people under the guidance of Pope Francis. East Timor is the third country that Pope Francis has visited during his Southeast Asia tour.
