EUROPE | RELIGION: Vatican disciplined Nobel-winning Belo over alleged abuse of minors
Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts related to East Timor speaks during an Indonesian Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) public hearing in Jakarta, 26 March 2007. A truth commission set up by Indonesia and East Timor held its second public hearing in an attempt to uncover the facts surrounding a bloody independence vote in East Timor in 1999. Militia gangs, which the UN has said were recruited and directed by Indonesia’s military, killed about 1,400 people and destroyed much of the infrastructure in the former Portuguese colony. (AFP/Ahmad Zamroni)
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The Vatican on Thursday acknowledged that it had secretly disciplined Timor Leste bishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Carlos Ximenes Belo two years ago, responding to allegations that he sexually abused boys in East Timor decades before.
The Vatican acknowledgement came in response to reporters’ questions following an article this week in Dutch magazine De Groene Amsterdammer.
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In its report, De Groene Amsterdammer quoted two men, identified with pseudonyms, as saying Belo raped them when they were 14 and 15 and then later gave them money.
The publication quoted both men as saying that they believed that Belo had sexually abused other boys in Timor Leste.
Some of the alleged abuse took place in the bishop’s residence in capital Dili.
De Groene Amsterdammer said it had evidence that Belo had also sexually abused boys in the 1990s, when he was a priest.
“The bishop raped and sexually abused me that night”, one alleged victim, now 45, is quoted as saying.
“He also left money for me.
That was meant so that I would keep my mouth shut”, he said.
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A highly respected figure among the East Timorese, Belo won the Nobel Prize for his role in the defence of human rights in the country during the Indonesian occupation.
He resigned from office in 2002 citing health reasons.
De Groene Amsterdammer, which mentions other victims, says it has spoken to about 20 people — including politicians and members of the local church — who were aware of allegations against Belo.
Reuters could not immediately locate the whereabouts of Belo.
De Groene Amsterdammer said he had hung up the phone when it reached him for comment on the allegations.
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Belo, 74, won the Nobel Peace Prize along with now President Jose Ramos-Horta for their work in ending the conflict in East Timor.
The Norwegian Nobel committee cited Belo’s courage in helping shed light on a 1991 massacre of East Timorese by Indonesian military.
The former Portuguese colony won independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a bloody occupation in which hundreds of thousands were killed.
The same year East Timor won independence Belo, citing health reasons brought on by stress and burnout, tendered his resignation as Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Dili to Pope John Paul II, who accepted it.
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He was only 54 at the time, 21 years short of the usual retirement age for a bishop.
After stepping down as bishop of Dili, Belo worked as a missionary in Mozambique and later settled in Portugal, where he still lives.
In his statement, 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”.
In 2020, it imposed “disciplinary restrictions” including “limitations to his movements and to the exercise of his ministry, the prohibition of voluntary contact with minors, of interviews and contacts” with East Timor. Bruni said that in 2021, the measures were “modified and reinforced,” without giving details.
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The Vatican spokesman said the bishop “formally accepted” the restrictions both times.
Belo is a member of the Salesian religious order, which traditionally specialises in the education of children.
The order’s branch in Portugal said on its website that it had heard of the “suspicion” of Belo’s sexual abuse of minors with deep “sadness and perplexity”.
It said that since the time he had arrived in Portugal, Belo has had “no educational or pastoral responsibilities” with the order.
Agencies Vatican City,
Holy See ●
Fri, September 30, 2022
Click to read: https://www.thejakartapost.com/world/2022/09/30/vatican-disciplined-nobel-winning-belo-over-alleged-abuse-of-minors.html.
