Archbishop Pena, Under-Secretary for General Affairs of the Holy See State Department, concluded his visit to Timor-Leste on 23 September. The Archbishop expressed his satisfaction with the law recently approved by the country to facilitate the entry of missionaries into East Timor.
(Vatican News Network)Archbishop Pena, Under-Secretary for General Affairs of the Holy See State Department, concluded his five-day visit to Timor-Leste on 23 September with the opportunity to inaugurate the new embassy of the Holy See in Timor-Leste in the country’s capital, Dili visited East Timor.
On the last day of his visit, Archbishop Pena met with the Speaker of the National Assembly, Aniceto Guterres, and representatives of several political parties. He expressed his gratitude for the hospitality he had received in East Timor and expressed his appreciation for the recently approved laws that would facilitate the entry of missionaries into the country. A representative of the East Timorese parliament stressed the importance of Catholicism in the country’s history. East Timor and the Philippines are Catholic-majority Asian countries.
The archbishop arrived in Timor-Leste on September 19 and was greeted by the country’s president, Josè Ramos-Horta, winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize. On the same day, Archbishop Pena attended the inauguration ceremony of the local World Peace Human Brotherhood Center. The center was inspired by the document on human brotherhood signed in 2019 by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Azhar, Taib.
On September 20, the Archbishop attended a seminar on documents on human brotherhood at the Catholic University of East Timor, and in the followingnoon presided over the inauguration of the new building of the Holy See embassy. On September 21, he visited the Centre for Poor Children run by the Sisters of the Canossian Charity, the United Seminary of the Diocese of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Santa Cruz Cemetery and the East Timor Resistance Museum.
On September 22, Archbishop Pena met with the Prime Minister of East Timor, Taur Matan Ruak, who visited the monument dedicated to St. John Paul II in Tasidolou before presiding in Dili Cathedral. . On October 12, 1989, Pope Wojtywa celebrated Mass there. On September 23, Archbishop Pena met with representatives of the National Assembly and returned to Rome.
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