Pope calls for E. Timor harmony

Pope calls for E. Timor harmony

JAKARTA (JP): Pope John Paul II has called on the Roman Catholic Church to stand on the front line in the effort to bring reconciliation in East Timor.

The visiting papal envoy, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, delivered the message to some 5,000 congregation attending a mass held in Vilaverde Cathedral, Dili, East Timor, on Sunday. He said that the pope also called on church and society members to build respect for each other.

The Antara news agency reported that after the mass, the cardinal blessed the chapel at the new Nossa Senhora de Fatima seminary in Balide village. Etchegaray called on the youths currently being educated there to not only be the servants of East Timorese, but of everybody.

Etchegaray also called on the priests in the Dili diocese to "serve everybody, regardless of their religion, ethnic group or race".

"Every human being deserves to be served and respected," he said.

Etchegaray, who has been in Indonesia since Thursday, arrived in Dili on Sunday and was met at the airport by Dili Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenez Belo, Vice Governor Johanes Haribowo and several members of the local clergy.

Yesterday he visited the Baucau parish, some 110 kilometers (68 miles) east of Dili, met with Governor Abilio Osorio Soares, military commander Colonel Mahidin Simbolon and East Timor church officials. He left for Denpasar, Bali, later yesterday.

Etchegaray said in Jakarta Friday after meeting Foreign Minister Ali Alatas that his official visit was "pastoral". "It is not political," he added.

He is the first high-ranking Vatican official to visit the country since Pope John Paul II visited Jakarta and the East Timorese capital Dili in 1989.

On his return to Jakarta, Etchegaray is scheduled to meet President Soeharto as well as members of the National Commission on Human Rights. (swe)