Twenty years after largely Catholic Timor-Leste (East Timor, map) attained independence from largely Muslim Indonesia, the nation’s founding president, Xanana Gusmão, met with Pope Francis.
In 2002, Pope St. John Paul II warmly welcomed the nation’s independence. In March, a Vatican diplomat said that Pope Francis will visit Timor-Leste this year, and in May, the Pope named the nation’s first cardinal.