Millions of faithful across Southeast Asia are mourning the death of Pope Francis, who left an indelible mark on Catholics in this overlooked corner of the Christian world through his outreach work.
In the course of his 12-year papacy, Francis made concerted efforts to bring more attention to the region, including undertaking a marathon visit last year despite his failing health.
Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Catholic Church, died on Monday at the age of 88. He had been suffering from a serious bout of double pneumonia in recent weeks and eventually suffered a stroke.
The Pope last year made a 12-day trip to four southeast Asian countries, including Muslim-majority Indonesia, to promote interfaith dialogue amid geopolitical tensions across the world.
In the tiny island nation of Timor-Leste, which has the highest proportion of Catholics outside the Vatican, the Pope wasn't just revered as the head of the church but as a "king".
Francis was the first pope to visit Timor-Leste since its independence from Indonesia in 2002 following a brutal occupation. Nearly half of the population of around 1.3 million turned out for his mass, sporting umbrellas in the papal colours of yellow and white.
“Because he recently came less than a year ago, I feel the Pope is not dead,” a resident named Francisca Wongabou told ABC News. “I am surprised and do not accept reality.”
The Pope’s three-day visit was described as the biggest event in the country since independence. "My child was born with a disability, when the Pope blessed my child, his health improved, although he did not walk, his health is still good until now,” a local resident told the broadcaster.
The president of Timor-Leste said he was impressed by how the ailing Pope had handled the occasion when everybody wanted to touch him, kiss his hand, and bless them. “He always had a smile," Jose Manuel Ramos Horta told ABC News.
“I know we are losing yet another great world leader in a time of great turmoil, in a time of huge deficit in world leadership, leadership of wisdom. We have lost a great moral voice, a voice of compassion."
He said the Pope had put his small nation on the world map. “Millions of people from around the world followed Timor-Leste through the Pope's visit,” the president explained, “so we thank the Pope for putting back Timor-Leste on the global stage, on the world map.”
In the Philippines, church bells rang through the capital Manila as grieving worshippers honoured the pontiff, affectionately known as "Lolo Kiko" or Grandpa Kiko.
One of the chapels inside the Manila Cathedral displayed a framed photo of the Pope surrounded by flowers and candles as prayers for his eternal repose and solemn hymns sung by the choir echoed through the church.
"Lolo Kiko was a true father to us," Cardinal Jose Advincula, the archbishop of Manila, said at the morning mass he led at the cathedral.
The Philippines, home to over 80 million Catholics, has long had a special connection with Francis, who visited the country in 2015, drawing a record crowd of up to seven million people at a historic mass in the capital.
In his homily, the Pope urged Filipinos to shun “social structures which perpetuate poverty, ignorance and corruption”.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, himself a Catholic, described Francis as the "best Pope in my lifetime" as he expressed deep sorrow over his passing.
The Catholic church has been a powerful force in the Philippines, helping to oust two leaders, most notably the father and namesake of the incumbent president, and speaking out against injustices and rights abuses, including a spree of killings in former president Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial “war on drugs”.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas in the coastal town of Lingayen described Francis as the “Jesus for our age”. “We knew that in him, Jesus was in our midst,” he told the Inquirer.
A former archbishop of Manila, Luis Antonio Tagle, 67, is being seen as a potential candidate for the next pope. If chosen, he would be the first pontiff from Asia.
Indonesia, where about 3 per cent of the population is Catholic, also remembered the Pope fondly. Francis ignored reported terror threats to start his southeast Asia trip from Jakarta in the hope of bridging the divide between Muslims and Catholics in Asia.
Then president Joko Widodo had welcomed the pontiff saying that Indonesia and the Vatican had “the same commitment to fostering peace and brotherhood, as well as ensuring the welfare of humanity”.
Incumbent president Prabowo Subianto on Monday said the Pope’s message of “simplicity, pluralism, benevolence to the poor and concern for others will always be an example to us all”.
“Farewell, Pope Francis. Your message to defend bhinneka tunggal ika will always remain in our hearts,” he said, using the phrase for unity in diversity.
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