In Dili, hundreds of thousands celebrated the first anniversary of their meeting with Pope Francis, on his 45th apostolic journey outside of Italy. In Indonesia, currently shaken by violent social tensions, local bishops call for “repentance” and “listening”. In Singapore, the archdiocese launched its 2025-2035 Pastoral Plan inspired by synodality.

Rome (AsiaNews/Agencies) – On Wednesday, some 300,000 people gathered at the Taci Tol esplanade in Dili, Timor-Leste, to mark the first anniversary of Pope Francis’s visit to the Southeast Asian country.

Card Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, archbishop of Dili, led the thanksgiving Mass held at the same spot where the pontiff met the East Timorese people during his historic apostolic journey to Asia, the 45th of his pontificate outside of Italy, from 2 to 13 September 2024, visiting Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore.

Over 600,000 faithful met Francis at the time. Now, a year later, and five months after his death, his voice still seems to echo in a country that still remembers him with undiminished affection.

“You are a young country and we can see every corner of your land teeming with life,” he said to a people who gained its independence in 2002.

The Thanksgiving Mass, 12 months after the papal visit, the second, after that of Saint John Paul II in 1989, was organised by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Timor-Leste (CET).

Bishop Leandro Maria Alves of Baucau and Mgr Marcel Šmejkal, chargé d'Affaires ad interim at the Apostolic Nunciature, as well as numerous priests and religious took part in the service. Following the Mass, celebrated at 6:00 pm, the evening ended with moments of community sharing and a concert.

The East Timorese, who welcomed Pope Francis a year ago with great emotion and enthusiasm, gathered in the same place again last April, once more in their hundreds of thousands, on the day of his funeral, for a moment of national mourning declared by the government.

Two days ago, Card Virgilio do Carmo da Silva  mentioned Francis’s visit saying that, “It restored our faith and our hope, leaving an indelible mark on our hearts.”

From the Taci Tol esplanade, filled with multitudes of Timor-Leste's Catholics, the cardinal evoked the “two great historical events” hosted in the same place, and rooted in the hearts of the country’s people, the two papal visits.

First with John Paul II, then Francis, Timor-Leste was able to place itself “on the world map,” the cardinal stated. The 1989 visit showed the world that “the [East] Timorese people are a faithful, united people who knew how to fight together for their self-determination.”

This was achieved thanks to the commitment of the people and to Catholic authorities. Regarding Francis’s visit in September 2024, he added: “Pope Francis's presence last year boosted the faith of the [East] Timorese people and strengthened their culture, to appreciate the values ​​of the Gospel as believers.”

The memory of the longest apostolic journey of Francis's pontificate is also alive in Indonesia.

Bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, seminarians, and catechists met with the Argentine pope on 4 September 2024, in Jakarta, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. The next day, at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Francis urged those present to make a “mess” to preach the Gospel.

A year later, Indonesia has become the scene of violent social conflict, which even the Indonesian Church, a minority in the world’s most populous Muslim country, has witnessed.

Large-scale protests against inequality and government privilege have shaken the country, only to be brutally repressed by the military, on the orders of President Prabowo Subianto.

Earlier this month, Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo, Archbishop of Jakarta, called for “national repentance," urging his fellow Indonesians to avoid sweeping problems under the carpet; instead, they should address the issues fuelling protests and social anger.

Such repentance begins with listening to the thoughts, ideas, and proposals of the people, but above all, of "scholars and experts" who care about Indonesia's future. This means “First listening, because everything comes from listening," as Pope Francis said in Jakarta.

In his homily during the Mass at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, the pontiff spoke of two attitudes that, “The encounter with Jesus calls us to live”, one is listening and the other is living the Word. “The word given, and received through listening, wishes to become life in us, transform us and become incarnate in our lives.”

Singapore’s small Catholic community has also kept alive the memory of Pope Francis's visit, journeying in the footsteps of the Gospel.

The Archdiocese of Singapore recently released its Pastoral Plan 2025-2035, a paper that is “the fruit of a synodal journey”, one that “Developed through extensive consultations involving over 1,000 members of the clergy”, and now a “rallying call for unity across the Church to realise the mission that Christ has entrusted to us.”

“Like the rest of the world, we are ministering the Gospel in increasingly complex and divisive situations,” says Card William Goh Seng Chye. “As Church, our present times are marked by deep division and polarization, which at times seem irreconcilable. Such infighting causes scandal to others, and distracts us from fulfilling the mission that Christ has entrusted to us: to go and make disciples of all nations,” he added.

The plan sets five pastoral priorities: training, building faith communities, enhancing differentiated co-responsibility, building unity in diversity, and embracing synodality.

These priorities provide a common framework for pastoral action, enabling us to "proclaim the gospel of Christ in our time”, inspired by Pope Francis's words.

“Pope Francis invites us to journey together, as the disciples did on the Road to Emmaus, urging us to ‘Walk together. Question together. Take responsibility together for community discernment, which for us is prayer, as the first Apostles did: this is Synodality, which we would like to make a daily habit in all its expressions’,” reads the summary of the plan.

This community commitment should inspire as well those "wider" communities that Francis was able and willing to meet, even travelling to Asia, exactly a year ago.

• vatican
• asia
• timor-leste
• indonesia
• singapore
• apostolic visit
• pope francis
• anniversary