Pope Francis visit keenly awaited in deeply Catholic East Timor

When Pope Francis touches down in the East Timorese capital of Dili this week he will be landing in a totally different nation to the one visited by his predecessor.

The last papal visit to Dili was in 1989, when Pope John Paul II arrived in territory then occupied by Indonesia, gifting East Timor's fledgling independence movement an historic boost and rare prominence on the global stage.

"It was an opportunity for us to express our right to fight for our liberation," recalled Father Francisco Barreto, who was among the crowd when protesters unfurled banners calling for independence in front of the world's TV cameras for the first time.

Now as one of the world's newest and predominantly Catholic nations prepares for a second papal visit, the 72-year-old priest said East Timor's struggle is about building the impoverished, half-island nation.

"This visit is grace from God," Barreto said by phone from Dili, where he works as a hospital and prison chaplain.

"It will bring new life, new energy, for our fight for the progress of this nation... politics and the economy are not healthy."

After a brutal, decades-long occupation by Indonesia, East Timor, or Timor Leste, gained independence in 2002 following a UN-supervised referendum.

But the nation of 1.3 million has struggled to diversify its oil and gas-dependent economy, foster political regeneration, and curb corruption.

Pope Francis's visit, part of a tour that includes stops in Jakarta and Singapore, is set to resonate in Dili, despite a string of abuse scandals that has plagued the church.

In 2022, the Vatican confirmed it had sanctioned Timorese Bishop and Nobel laureate Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo following allegations he sexually abused boys in Timor in the 1990s.

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