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East Timor’s Catholics reacted with shock as well as expressions of support for revered Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo following allegations he sexually abused boys decades ago in the Southeast Asian nation.
The United Nations and advocacy groups for survivors of clergy sexual abuse are urging Pope Francis to conduct a full inquiry into who knew what and when about Belo’s sexual abuse.
The Vatican’s sex abuse office said last week that it had secretly sanctioned Belo in 2020. It forbade him from having contact with minors or with his homeland, East Timor. The sanctions were based on allegations of misconduct that arrived in Rome in 2019.
That same year, Francis approved a new church law requiring all cases of predator prelates to be reported in-house. Francis also established a mechanism to investigate bishops who had long escaped accountability for abuse or cover-up during the church’s decades-long scandal.
The Timorese Bishops’ Conference said it would work with any possible judicial investigation arising from the allegations.
“If any legal process is set in motion in East Timor, the Timorese Bishops’ Conference will comply with and cooperate with the legal process,” it said in a statement carried by Portuguese news agency Lusa and reported by public broadcaster RTP.
Belo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 with fellow East Timorese independence icon Jose Ramos-Horta. They were recognised for campaigning for a fair and peaceful solution to the conflict in their home country as it struggled to gain independence from Indonesia.
The bishop was feted at home and abroad for his bravery in calling out human rights abuses by East Timor’s Indonesian rulers despite threats against his life.
Few Timorese wanted to speak about the allegations against Bishop Belo, but those who did voiced support for him.
“As East Timorese, we are shocked to hear this news,” said Naomi Sarmento, a Catholic. “We have known Bishop Belo for a long time, a good person who has done many services for God, helped the people of Timor Leste and became a role model in the world. We will continue to support and pray that he stays healthy and continues to serve God.”
In 2002, Belo retired as the head of the church in East Timor despite being just 54. He was two decades shy of the normal retirement age for bishops. He cited ill health and stress as reasons for his sudden retirement.
Within a year of his retirement, Belo had been sent by the Vatican and his Salesian missionary order to another former Portuguese colony, Mozambique, to work as a missionary priest. There, he has said, he spent his time “teaching catechism to children, giving retreats to young people.”
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the Vatican’s doctrinal office, which handles sex abuse cases, first became involved in the case in 2019 in “light of the accusations it received concerning the bishop’s behaviour.”
Bruni said that in 2021, the measures were “modified and reinforced,” without giving details. The Vatican spokesman said the bishop “formally accepted” the restrictions both times.
Belo is currently in Portugal, where the Salesians have said they took him in at the request of their superiors.
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