DILI, 02 january 2024 (TATOLI) – Members of the Parliamentary Committee E on Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, on thursday, inspected the conditions of the Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport, as part of Timor-Leste’s preparations for the visit of Pope Francis.
The inspection came after President Horta confirmed last month that Pope Francis would be visiting Timor-Leste, one of the majority Catholic countries in the Southeast Asia region, the other being the Philippines.
“We’d like to see first-hand the condition of the airport and see if we need the necessary rehabilitation to prepare for Pope Francis’ visit,” said the president of Parliamentary Commission E, Marcos Xavier.
He said that, following the confirmation of the Pope’s visit, a team made up of various ministries had been set up to rehabilitate the airport in order to prepare for the Holy See’s visit.
During the meeting between Pope Francis and President Horta last month, it was confirmed that the Holy See will visit Timor-Leste this year.
Pope St. John Paul II was the first Pope to visit the island when it was Indonesia’s 27th province, called East Timor.
Pope St John Paul celebrated Holy Mass at the esplanade of Tasitolu in the capital Dili on october 12, 1989. More than 5,000 East Timorese Catholics gathered in their capital Dili on wednesday, to commemorate the pastoral visit of Pope Saint John Paul II to Timor-Leste (East Timor) in 1989.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Filomeno Martins
