Timor-Leste is a tiny and new nation (it gained independence in 2002). And Pope Francis is coming to visit for 3 days. To get the nation and the city ready homes in the area of Tasitolu are being bulldozed (the government says they are illegal), other parts of Tasitolu are being screened off (it’s a poor and run-down area), and $1.5 Million is being spent to make a custom built altar for the Pope to offer Mass.
Tasitolu was originally declared a park and protected wetland, but poorer Timorese looking for work in Dili set up homes and created a community on the edge of the wetland. Now, they are being pushed out and pushed away so that others can see and hear the Pope. It seems the poor are paying the price for access to the Pope. (You can read the short article here. )
I can’t help but compare this to when Jesus, God the Son, entered our world. His bed was in a shed, he lived among refugees for his first few years, and then, in his ministry, he hung out with tax collectors, sinners and prostitutes. They came to him. But I suspect Jesus also walked into the slums to visit them. What would Jesus’ visit to Timor-Leste look like? Very different.
And, as for an altar. Well, yes, his was custom-built. The altar was his body, offered on a Roman cross to reconcile heaven and earth (Colossians 1:19-20). His offered body was not just the altar but is the new temple (John 2:18-22) by which any person, rich or poor, wanted or unwanted, can be welcomed to God the Father. And the price? Jesus’ life.
I can't help but conclude that this contrast indicates how far the Pope and the Catholic church have drifted from the teaching of the New Testament and the person of Jesus. The Scriptures are clear - Jesus is the way to God. He provides the access we need and we are to come to him directly, not through the Pope (John 14:6, and John 5:39-40).