09During his apostolic trip to Asia, Pope Francis arrived at his third of the four planned stops. At 2:20 p.m. local time, the plane he was traveling on landed in Dili, the capital of East Timor, the easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Southeast Asia, where Catholics make up almost the entire population.
Coming from Port Moresby, the Bishop of Rome arrived at the “President Nicolau Lobato” international airport in Dili in East Timor, after having traveled just over two thousand five hundred kilometers and flying over the country of origin, Papua New Guinea, as well as Australia and Indonesia to East Timor.
Pope’s Agenda
During this day, the Holy Father will be the protagonist of public events: the welcome ceremony outside the Presidential Palace, followed by a courtesy visit to the President of the Republic in the same building, and then his meeting with the authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps in the hall of the aforementioned palace.
The plane in which the Bishop of Rome traveled stopped in the area reserved for ceremonies at Dili airport and the Apostolic Nuncio, Monsignor Wojciech Zaluski, titular archbishop of Diocletian, together with the Head of Protocol of East Timor, boarded the front stairs to greet the Pope, who immediately descended in the elevator.
The Pope was welcomed by the President of the Republic, José Manuel Ramos-Horta, and the Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmão, as well as by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Wojciech Załuski, while, as usual, two children dressed in traditional costumes offered Francis flowers along with a tai, a traditional Timorese scarf.
After the formal part with the execution of the years before the Guard of Honor lined up on the airport runway, the papal cortege headed towards the nunciature, from where Francis will leave by car shortly before 6:00 p.m. local time, for the first of the events of this stage of the trip, the welcome ceremony and courtesy visit to the head of state and, at around 7:00 p.m., the meeting with the political, diplomatic and civil authorities of East Timor.
Fourteen people, in traditional costume and representing the fourteen municipalities of the country, welcomed Francis on his way to the airport lounge. Finally, both the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister bid farewell to the Pope, who travelled to the Apostolic Nunciature, about six kilometers from the airport.
