DILI – As Pope Francis begins his brief, two-day visit to East Timor, one of the key underlying issues he will have to grapple with is the country’s clerical sexual abuse crisis. The highly Catholic island nation continues to reel from allegations against revered members of its clergy.
Pope Francis landed in East Timor, also called Timor Leste, on 9 September, after making visits to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea as part of a broader tour of Asia and Oceania that will also take him to Singapore.
In a speech to national authorities after his arrival in Dili on the afternoon of 9 September, Pope Francis made a veiled reference to the abuse issue, calling on authorities to “to prevent every kind of abuse and guarantee a healthy and peaceful childhood for all young people”.
