Pope Francis arrives in the world’s most Catholic nation outside of the Vatican City

Dili, East Timor CNN —

Pope Francis arrived in the tiny Southeast Asian nation of East Timor on Monday for the penultimate stop on a marathon trip through Asia and the South Pacific for the 87-year-old leader.

But clerical sexual abuse is also hanging over this leg of the pope’s visit to the region as revelations of abuse concerning high profile East Timor clergy emerging in recent years.

East Timor, also known as Timor Leste, is one of the world’s youngest countries and has deep ties to the Catholic Church, which was influential in its tumultuous and bloody fight for independence from Indonesia.

The country of just 1.3 million people is the second most Catholic country in the world, with 97% of the population identifying as Catholic – the highest share outside of the Vatican.

The government of East Timor allocated $12 million for Francis’ first visit to the deeply devout country, which has been criticized as an exorbitant burden given it remains a small economy and one of Asia’s poorest nations.

The pontiff’s visit also puts fresh scrutiny on the scourge of sexual abuse in the church and on whether Francis will directly address the issue while he’s in East Timor, as he has done in other countries.

Two years ago, the Vatican acknowledged that it had secretly disciplined East Timor bishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Carlos Ximenes Belo, after he was accused of sexually abusing boys in his home nation decades before.

In past trips abroad, Francis has met with victims of abuse. Though not on the official program of his visit, some analysts have said if Pope Francis addresses the abuse while in East Timor, it would send a strong message to survivors and those who have not come forward both in the country and around