How the Catholic faith has helped East Timor forgive

Rome Newsroom, Sep 6, 2024 / 07:00 am

Pope Francis will land in Dili, the capital city of East Timor, on Monday in the third stop on a Sept. 2–13 trip to four countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania.

One of the world’s newest nations — it became a sovereign state in 2002 — the majority-Catholic country is on a journey of reconciliation after a century of colonization, a decades-long invasion by neighboring Indonesia, and brutal internal violence.

“During the struggle for independence, if it were not for the [Catholic] Church sheltering people, saving lives, speaking out, I don’t know whether we would be free today,” East Timor’s President José Ramos-Horta told “EWTN News In Depth” during an interview in Dili last month.

A co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his efforts to promote justice and peace in East Timor, also referred to as Timor-Leste, Ramos-Horta conveyed a pride in the country’s Catholic identity.

“The role of the Church is very important,” the politician said. “The Church provided us [with] two things. One, identity. The Catholic faith, embraced by 96% of the people, makes Timor ... one of the most homogeneous countries in the world in terms of religion. Second, it is the Catholic Church that made Tetum, which was a minority language in the past ... a national language.”

A violent history

Missionaries first brought the Catholic faith to the island of Timor, off the northern coast of Australia, in 1515. 

The Portuguese settled there five years later, with the Spanish arriving shortly afterward. Nearly a century later, the Dutch took possession of the island’s western portion. After a fight between the Dutch and the Portuguese, Portuguese sovereignty over the eastern part of the island (now East Timor) was established in the latter half of the 19th century. 

The Portuguese colonization of East Timor province continued until 1975, when a major political party gained control of the territory and declared independence. But at the end of the same year, Indonesian forces invaded and claimed the province to be part of Indonesia.

Between 100,000 and 200,000 people died over the next two decades, whether from resisting the Indonesian occupation or from famine and disease.

Under growing international pressure, the Indonesian government held a referendum in 1999 to determine East Timor’s future. When voters overwhelmingly supported independence, Indonesia rescinded its annexation of the territory, but the transition was marred by violence from anti-independence militants who killed hundreds of civilians. 

After years of difficult struggle, in 2002, the country’s first president was elected and East Timor achieved full status as a sovereign state.

‘The work of reconciliation’

As the new nation continues to develop economically and confront its high rates of poverty and malnourishment among children, the country’s first cardinal credits faith with helping the Timorese forgive Indonesia — and each other — for decades of violence.

“Though we are saying that with our neighboring Indonesia we were able to reconcile, we also can say that the work of reconciliation is not finished yet,” Cardinal Virgílio do Carmo da Silva told EWTN News in an interview in Dili in August. “You have to work inside the country too.”

The cardinal said after 22 years as an independent nation, the Timorese people have not entirely forgotten the harm and death they have experienced, but “the fruit of reconciliation that [has been achieved] has contributed to that peaceful, joyful relationship that we are now enjoying with Indonesia.”

Ramos-Horta called reconciliation among Timorese people one of the country’s “greatest achievements” alongside reconciliation with Indonesia. “And the Indonesian side showed their utter, mature statesmanship and accepted the normalization of relations with us today.”

“There are some pains,” Carmo da Silva said. “But I think we are also seeing [that] reconciling does not mean there is no justice. There is always room for justice.”

“We need to affirm, as Catholics, how to be builders of peace, to continue to build [up] love, pardon, forgiveness, which still we have to work on.”

The impact of papal visits

Both Ramos-Horta and Carmo da Silva credit the 1998 visit of Pope John Paul II to East Timor for having reinforced the faith of the Timorese people and for putting the country on the map.

“It was the faith in God and the hope generated by their faith that yes, things will change and things changed, beginning with the visit [of Pope John Paul II],” Ramos-Horta said.

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Do Carmo da Silva said the pope’s 1998 visit had a huge impact: “The message [he gave] is still echoing in the mind, in the heart, of many Timorese — that you are the salt and the light of the world. In spite of all these difficulties you are facing, be firm in your faith.”

When John Paul II visited East Timor, it was still under Indonesian control. During an earlier part of the trip, he had kissed the ground in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta, as he would do every time he visited a new country.

“It was a fascinating diplomatic exercise by the Holy See,” Ramos-Horta explained. “He had already kissed the ground in Jakarta, so he shouldn’t kiss the ground in Timor-Leste.”

He explained that kissing the ground in East Timor would have infuriated the Indonesians, but to do nothing would have been an implicit recognition of Indonesia’s annexation of the country.

So a pillow with a cross was placed on the ground and John Paul II kissed the cross. “That was genius, diplomatic genius,” the East Timor president said.

He said Pope Francis’ visit will also be important for the country.

During one and a half days in Dili, Pope Francis will meet with government officials, local Catholics, priests, young adults, and children with disabilities.

“His mere presence, if he doesn’t say a word, would already be very important,” Ramos-Horta said.