Critics in Timor-Leste have additionally questioned the choice to spend such giant quantities of cash on the go to – together with US$1m (£762,000) on a model new altar.
In accordance with the UN, practically half of the inhabitants of Timor Leste at present lives under the nationwide poverty line.
That is the primary papal journey to Timor-Leste since Pope John Paul II visited in 1989, when the nation was nonetheless below Indonesian occupation.
When Indonesia invaded the previous Portuguese colony in 1975, solely round 20% of East Timorese individuals had been Catholic. That determine now stands at 97%.
The Pope was beforehand in Papua New Guinea, the place round 1 / 4 of its inhabitants describe themselves as Catholic and Indonesia, the place that determine is 3%.
Pope Francis will end his tour within the area in Singapore later this week.