Confined Bishop Carlos Felipe Jimenez Belo Accused of Child Abuse

However, the allegations contained in the report will be investigated by the Vatican, said Marco Sprizzi, a representative for East Timor.

“Pope Francis is so passionate about zero tolerance that after such articles, they are conducting an investigation, and I have no doubt they will investigate deeply,” he said. sydney morning herald When age“I’m 100% sure of that.”

Bello became a hero for the Indonesian Occupation Timorese and won a Nobel Prize for his non-violent resistance.

In September 1999, he was evacuated to Darwin on a RAAF plane as pro-Indonesian militiamen attacked his home. In the aftermath of East Timor’s independence vote he was home to 5,000 people fleeing violence.

After returning to Dili, he resigned from the church in 2002 for health reasons and left to work as an assistant priest in Mozambique.

Last December, East Timor was rocked by the court trial of American priest Richard Dashbach. He was convicted of child sexual abuse and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Dashbach, believed by his followers to have special powers, abused children in a shelter he ran for boys and girls in Oexe, West Timor’s enclave for more than two decades. .

Controversy surrounding his case was fueled by the support shown to him by former East Timor president and prime minister Zanana Gusmao.

The Vatican’s special envoy in Dili, Mr. Spritzi, said on Thursday that the East Timorese church had not been contacted by victims claiming abuse by Bello, but that it was taking such allegations very seriously.

“I can tell you that the victim didn’t show up here, otherwise we would have known a lot more,” he said.

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“The East Timorese church has endorsed guidelines on protecting minors after deeply studying guidelines from other countries, including Australia and the United States, over the past six months.

“The Church is now committed to protecting minors, and bishops and everyone have a duty to accept, protect, encourage and condemn victims when they appear. [the abuse]This is the current attitude of the East Timorese church. ”

97% of East Timor’s population of 1.3 million are Catholic.