Approximately 50 children warmly welcomed the Holy Father and Cardinal Virgílio do Carmo da Silva, SDB, archbishop of Dili, with traditional song and dance to their school, run by consecrated sisters of the Association of Lay Ministries (ALMA) who began their missionary work in East Timor in 2004 by caring for poor, disabled, and abandoned children.

“This is what one finds here: love. Without love this cannot be understood. And so we understand the love of Jesus who gave his life for us. We cannot understand the love of Jesus if we do not begin to practice love,” the Holy Father said to the ALMA sisters and children gathered inside the school’s St. Vincent de Paul Hall.

“I want to thank you for what you do and I also want to thank the girls and the boys and the young men who give us the testimony of letting themselves be cared for. Because they teach us how we should let ourselves be cared for by God … they are our teachers.”

Superior of the ALMA community Sister Getrudis Bidi said the children at the school are “our most precious treasures” and thanked Pope Francis for his teachings and example in loving the poor.

“The children we serve in Timor-Leste face numerous limitations and are deaf-mute, mentally disabled, with Down syndrome, physical anomalies, blind, autistic, abandoned, malnourished, and are defenseless and disadvantaged,” she shared with the Holy Father.

“The dreams and objectives of the ALMA mission are to make the Gospel real and effective in today’s world. As Jesus said, ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ His Holiness, [you] too, said, ‘The poor save us because they let us encounter the face of Jesus Christ.’”

According to World Bank data, East Timor has a national poverty head count ratio at $3.65 a day, with approximately 40% of the population living below the poverty line.

Many children, particularly those with disabilities, are unable to be cared for by their impoverished families and are abandoned or given to Catholic ministries, such as ALMA, for their care and education.

Pope Francis spent some time during his visit to personally speak with a few children and sisters working at the school, while others joyfully sang songs and hymns waving Vatican and East Timor flags throughout the exchange.

Prior to leaving the school to meet with the bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians, and catechists at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the pope gifted the Irmãs Alma School a statue of the Holy Family and reiterated his message to live the testimony of love that knows how to love and be loved.

“This is the gift I leave to this house,” the pope said. “Look carefully: St. Joseph takes care of the Virgin, the Virgin takes care of Jesus. The most important is the One who lets himself be cared for the most: Jesus. He lets himself be cared for by Mary and by Joseph.”