Timor-Leste, Philippines mourn Pope Francis' passing

Hello friends!

One of the things I find so compelling about Southeast Asia, and what I think makes it stand apart from other regional groupings around the planet, is that world news plays out differently within a very close geography. 

There’s not much Timor-Leste and the Philippines have in common (although those beautiful beaches surely count) but both are leading the world in mourning Pope Francis. Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country that recently hosted Francis, leaving a legacy of religious tolerance and cooperation. In Buddhist majority Myanmar, the church gives tribute to a pope who always kept their struggle front and centre. 

Some spectacular photos out there that I cannot steal, so please click through on these links!

Erin Cook

🇹🇱 Timor-Leste enters a period of mourning

I really like how the ABC opened its story on Francis’ legacy in Timor-Leste: ‘In countries such as Timor-Leste, Pope Francis wasn't just the head of the Catholic church.’ The broadcaster spoke to local woman, Francisca Wongabou, who was in tears as she spoke about him: “Because he recently came less than a year ago, I feel the pope is not dead. I am surprised and do not accept reality.” She’d attended a snap vigil Monday night with dozens of others who were personally moved by last year’s visit. 

“‘'I'm in love with Timor',” Francis said during the trip, Cardinal Virgilio do Carmo da Silva said. Francis made Silva a Cardinal in 2022, the first ever for the country. He’s on the road now to the Vatican to take part in the vote for his successor. If he’s got a favourite, he’s keeping it to quiet: “For myself, I cannot come with a certain candidate in my mind,” Reuters reports.

Back at home, the country will be in a state of mourning for a week. President Jose Ramos-Horta also ordered flags to be flown at half-mast. “He leaves behind a profound legacy of humanity, of justice, of human fraternity, a tremendous loss for the world, not only for Christians,” Horta told the Guardian by phone, adding praise for Francis’ endless speaking out “for the poor, for the weak … against arrogance, against abuse, against wars.” 

Spending that week in Dili was one of the most remarkable experiences. I think this probably says more, for me, about how welcoming, accommodating and brilliantly spirited the Timorese people — and I mean the whole dang people, just about everyone in the country came to Dili — were during that visit. Timor-Leste and Pope Francis are super intertwined in my brain now, but I think it’s more than that. Pope Francis and his beliefs and passions were staunch, but a deliberate and brave bucking of trends. I think Timor-Leste, in many ways, is the nation-state version of that. 

🇵🇭 World’s Best Catholics have a hat in the ring

Last night, I wandered up to the St. Christopher’s Cathedral in Canberra to see what was going on. I have never regretted not being in Manila so badly in my life. Now that is a city, a country!, that turns it on. 

To much of the world, Pope Francis was Papa. In the Philippines, he is Lolo Kiko — Grandpa Francis. He visited Manila in 2015 where organisers wanted to cancel an open-air Mass in Tacloban, in Eastern Visayas, as typhoon conditions bore down. He wasn’t interested and held the Mass — and got there after flying through those conditions from Manila. The visit came a couple of years after Typhoon Yolanda devastated the region. This gorgeous piece from the BBC explains how, for hyper-Catholic Philippines, Pope Francis means even more than usual. 

“The best Pope in my lifetime as far as I'm concerned,” Philippine President Bongbong Marcos said on Monday, as per GMA. “Pope Francis led not only with wisdom but with a heart open to all, especially the poor and the forgotten. By example, Pope Francis taught us that to be a good Christian is to extend kindness and care to one another,” he said. 

Marcos and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos will head to the Vatican shortly for the funeral on Saturday, the Inquirer reported this morning.

But! Something else interesting is happening — one of the names in the mix to succeed Francis is Manila’s own Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle. He’s been dubbed the ‘Asian Pope Francis’ for his similar views on social justice and has previously served as the Archbishop of Manila. First Post has cobbled together a nice biography of him here. (It also features my favourite trope of noting a ‘progressive’ Catholic leader holds conservative/regressive views on abortion. I’m shocked!)   

🇲🇲 Myanmar, never far from Pope Francis’ prayers

In Myanmar, Catholics are mourning a Pope who remembered what the people were going through. “Among popes he was the most outspoken on Myanmar. Myanmar Catholics will miss him as the pope who always remembered Myanmar,” Sister Lucy told the AFP at Yangon’s St Mary’s Cathedral. 

Francis was the first Pope to ever visit the country, swinging by in 2017. And during his sermon on Easter Sunday, just a day before he died, he singled out Myanmar in his prayers. “He's a man who really cared for those people in the peripheries. He would always listen,” Yangon Archbishop, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, told the wire after Tuesday’s mass. AFP notes Bo could be a successor to Francis. 

🇮🇩 Indonesia’s religious leaders farewell a fellow traveller

In Indonesia, where Francis visited last year on his whirlwind Asia trip, Catholics and non-Catholics alike are in mourning. When he spoke in Jakarta last year, Francis really stressed religious tolerance and respecting all faiths — thinly veiled for Indonesia, where Catholics are a minority. At the time, it felt like a throwback addressing an earlier era for the country but it has made for some lovely tributes. 

“The pope embraced other religions and this is a reminder for us Catholics of the importance of tolerance in a religiously diverse Indonesia,” Maria Febriyanti Nepa, a young woman from Sorong, told the Jakarta Post. She was lucky enough to attend his in Jakarta last year. 

“His contributions and friendship will never be forgotten. We pray that His Holiness is granted a worthy place by God’s side,” Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar said in a statement. He met with Francis last year in his role as imam of the brilliant Istiqlal Mosque, Central Jakarta. The pair met with other interfaith leaders and committed to working together as a united front on humanitarian and environmental issues. 

Similarly, the Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisations (which makes it one of the world’s largest!), issued a statement in tribute to Francis’ legacy: “NU will stand alongside the Catholic Church to carry forward the spirit and struggle left behind by Pope Francis in nurturing and defending humanity,” NU chair Yahya Cholil Staquf said.