Pope Francis waves from the “popemobile” on April 9, 2023, as people crowd around him during his tour of St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican following the Easter Day Mass. – AFP
JAKARTA: Thousands of Catholics in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province are aiming to attend Pope Francis’ Mass in neighbouring Timor Leste this September, as the quota for a similar event in Jakarta has presented limitations on attendance.
With only five buses available to travel the Kupang-Dili route, calls are mounting for the government to assist the swaths of people hoping to complete the nine-hour long journey to see the head of the Catholic Church.
The enthusiasm and anticipation of the Pope’s Asia tour is increasing two months prior to his arrival, including in Indonesia, where the 87-year-old pontiff is scheduled for a packed three-day itinerary that includes a Mass at the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) stadium in Central Jakarta. However, with the stadium’s maximum capacity capped at just over 77,000 people, less than one per cent of the 8.5 million Catholics in Indonesia will be able to get tickets for the Mass, which have been distributed to representatives of the country’s 40 dioceses.
Against this backdrop, thousands of people in the Catholic-majority province of East Nusa Tenggara have instead chosen to try their luck in Dili – some 400km away from the province’s capital of Kupang – where the Pope has been slated to hold another Mass just several days after the one in Jakarta.
Additionally, it will be cheaper for the people of East Nusa Tenggara to travel to Dili, with bus fees and accommodation estimated to be around Rp2 million (US$123) for those who already have passports.
Meanwhile, the travel cost to Jakarta could amount to Rp8 million (US$491).
According to the Atambua Diocese Pastoral Center, 647 people from 22 parishes in East Nusa Tenggara have registered to attend the Mass in Dili, with thousands more still trying their luck in registering despite the enrollment window being closed.
The diocese staffers said there was still a possibility that more people would be added to the registered list.
Passport issuance and verification for the hundreds already registered is underway, with the diocese in East Nusa Tenggara coordinating closely with the immigration offices.
“Immigration officers will provide services in several designated points, such as in diocesan compounds. We will make sure these services are accessible as not all districts [in the province] have immigration offices,” said Marciana D Jone, head of the regional office of the East Nusa Tenggara Law and Human Rights Ministry, to Kompas.
Uncertainties remain on the logistics of the travel, with only five private-owned buses available along the Kupang-Dili route, each with a maximum capacity of 30 people.
There are no direct flights from Kupang to Dili. Air travel requires on average two stopovers in either Jakarta, Makassar, Surabaya or Bali, and can cost between Rp5 and 7 million per trip.
Calls for the government to assist the traveling crowds by deploying buses that belong to the Indonesian Police (Polri) and the Indonesian Military (TNI) have begun to mount, as cross-country land travel using personal vehicles will require multiple documents and permits.
According to a release by the Holy See in Rome, the pontiff will arrive in Dili on September 9 and will embark on a two-day long string of engagements.
The trip is one leg of the pope’s two-week-long Asia-Oceania tour in September, which will be the longest foreign trip of his 11-year papacy. – The Jakarta Post/ANN
