Nearly half of East Timor’s population —- packed a seaside park Tuesday for Pope Francis’ final Mass, held on the same field where St. John Paul II prayed 35 years ago.

Huge crowds lined the streets of Dili, East Timor for miles for Pope Francis’ arrival on Sept. 9, 2024, waving Vatican flags and standing under special yellow-and-white Vatican-themed umbrellas ...

Today, some 98% of East Timor’s 1.3 million people are Catholic, making it the most Catholic country in the world outside the Vatican.

Pope Francis arrived on Monday in East Timor, a predominantly Catholic nation in Southeast Asia, for a three-day visit that will include an open-air celebration of Mass the Vatican says could draw ...

Pope Francis’ Mass in East Timor draws 600,000 people, nearly half the population By HELENA ALVES, NICOLE WINFIELD and NINIEK KARMINI The Associated Press,Updated September 10, 2024, 5:46 a.m.