Family homes are being demolished near Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, where Pope Francis will celebrate mass next month.
About 90 people have been told by the government that they must find a new place to live before he arrives, according to displaced residents who spoke to the BBC.
The government of Timor-Leste denies that the evictions are related to the Pope’s visit, insisting that the residents are living there illegally.
Authorities have spent around $18m (£13.6m) on the pope’s three-day visit, which starts on 9 September.
“We are very sad,” Zerita Correia, a local resident, told BBC News.
“They even demolished our belongings in the house. Now we have to rent nearby because my children are still studying in this place,” he added.
A spokesperson for the residents said that 11 families will be evacuated before Pope Francis arrives in Timor-Leste. The government paid them between $7,000 and $10,000 to buy their houses.
“This amount is not enough for each household to meet its needs,” said Venancio Ximenes, speaking to the BBC
“The next phase of deportations will come after Pope Francis leaves and that will involve more than 1,300 families,” he added.
The houses are located in Tasitolu, a wetland just outside Dili. During the last ten years, hundreds of people have moved there from rural areas of the country.
Many come looking for work in the capital and build basic homes in the area. The government says they have no right to live on earth.
Speaking to the BBC, a government minister said residents were informed of plans to clear the site in September 2023.
“It is time for the state to take back its property,” said Germano Santa Brites Dias, Secretary of State for Toponymy and Urban Organization.
“Last year, we spoke our hearts out to the community and now they must go back to their villages,” he added.
An estimated 700,000 people are expected to attend Pope Francis’ open-air mass in Tasitolu, where 23 hectares of land – the size of about 40 football fields – are being prepared.
Apart from the government’s controversial plans to deport residents, critics have also questioned the decision to spend so much money on tourism – including $1m on Pope Francis’ brand new altar.
According to the UN, almost half of the people of Timor Leste currently live below the national poverty line.
“The annual budget for increasing food production in the country is only about $4.7m,” said Mariano Fereira, a researcher at the Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis, speaking to UCA News.
“All these expenses cannot benefit from the availability of food,” he added.
Next month will be the first papal visit to Timor-Leste since Pope John Paul II visited in 1989, when the country was still ruled by Indonesia.
Timor-Leste, formerly known as East Timor, has 1.3m people – most of whom call themselves Catholic.
When Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975, only about 20% of the East Timorese population were Catholic. That figure now stands at 97%.
The excitement of the pope’s visit is great, but the Pope is being urged by campaigners to fix the recent scandal that has polluted the Church in this country.
In 2022, the Vatican admitted that Nobel Peace Prize-winning Timorese freedom fighter Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo had sexually abused young boys.
A Vatican spokesman said the church was aware of the case in 2019 and imposed disciplinary measures in 2020, including restrictions on Belo’s travel and a ban on voluntary contact with children.
It is not yet clear whether Pope Francis will apologize for this scandal, meet the victims or whether Bishop Belo will appear with him at Dili.
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