Nearly half East Timor’s population attended Pope Francis‘ mass at a packed seaside park on Tuesday.
An estimated 600,000 people flocked to the site, held on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed 35 years ago during the nation’s fight for independence from Indonesia.
The population of East Timor is 97% Catholic, and the church is held in high regard for its support during the country’s fight for independence.
The crowd in East Timor was believed to represent the biggest turnout for a papal event ever as a proportion of the national population.
Pope Francis stayed at the Tasitolu park until well after nightfall to loop around the field in his open-topped popemobile.
“I wish for you peace, that you keep having many children, and that your smile continues to be your children,” Francis said in his native Spanish.
People lined up before dawn to enter the park, and with hours to go until the service, the roads leading to it were jammed by cars, trucks and buses packed with people; others walked down the middle of the street, ignoring the sidewalks.
Temperatures reached 88 degrees Fahrenheit and it felt even hotter with humidity over 50%.
“We are very happy that the pope came to Timor because it gives a blessing to our land and our people,” said Dirce Maria Teresa Freitas, 44, who arrived at the field at 9 a.m. from Baucau, more than seven hours early.
Tasitolu is said to have been a site where Indonesian troops disposed of bodies killed during their 24-year rule of East Timor.
Now it is known as the “Park of Peace” and features a larger-than-life-sized statue of John Paul to commemorate his Oct. 12, 1989 Mass, when the Polish pope shamed Indonesia for its human rights abuses and encouraged the overwhelmingly Catholic Timorese faithful.
Cardinal Carmo da Silva, the archbishop of Dili, told the crowd at the end of the Mass that John Paul’s visit “marked the decisive step in our process of self-determination,” and that Francis’ visit to the same place “marks a fundamental step in the process of building our country, its identity and its culture.”
“For us, the pope is a reflection of the Lord Jesus, as a shepherd who wants to see his sheep, so we come to him with all our hearts as our worship,” said Alfonso de Jesus, who came from Baucau, the country’s second-largest city after Dili.
De Jesus, 56 remembers John Paul’s 1989 Mass, having attended the event in the same spot 35 years ago.
The mass made headlines around the world because of a riot that broke out just as it was ending.
Baton-wielding Indonesian plainclothes police clashed with some 20 young men who shouted “Viva a independência” and “Viva el Papa!”
Pope Francis is on a tour of Asia, and has so far visited Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press
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