Activists criticize high cost of Pope Francis’ visit to East Timor, one of the poorest nations

DILI, East Timor (AP) — East Timor pulled out all stops for Pope Francis’ historic visit to one of the world’s youngest and poorest countries to the tune of $12 million, drawing rebuke from activists and human rights organizations in a nation where almost half the population lives in poverty.

The cost for the two-day visit starting Monday was approved by the government through the Council of Ministers in February, including $1 million to build an altar for a papal Mass.

Walls were still being dabbed with fresh paint and banners and billboards filled the streets of the seaside capital, Dili, to welcome the pontiff, who earlier visited Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

About 42% of East Timor’s population of 1.3 million live below the poverty line, according to the U.N. Development Program. Unemployment is high, job opportunities in the formal sector are generally limited and most people are subsistence farmers with no steady income.

The country’s budget for 2023 was $3.16 billion. The government had earmarked only $4.7 million to increase food production, said Marino Fereira, a researcher at Timor Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis. He said the $12 million expense for the papal visit “was exaggerating.”

The non-governmental agency, known locally as Lao Hamutuk, has submitted several papers to the government and parliament asking to cut expenditures on ceremonies and prioritize issues that affect people, Fereira said.

“The governments have ignored the poor in the country,” he said.

East Timor has recently faced challenges of high inflation and weather changes that have reduced cereal production, pushing some 364,000 people, or 27% of the population, to experience acute food insecurity from May to