VATICAN CITY (VATICAN CITY)
La Croix International [France]
October 7, 2022
By Loup Besmond de Senneville
The Holy See has begun collecting information on the case of Bishop Carlos Belo of Timor-Leste, the Nobel Peace Prize winner accused of raping teenage boys
The Vatican has launched an internal investigation into sex abuse allegations against Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo SDB, according to sources in Rome.
The former apostolic administrator of Timor-Leste (East Timor) from 1988-2002 and co- recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, is accused of multiple instances of abuse over 20 years.
The allegations were revealed on September 28 in the Dutch news weekly De Groene Amsterdammer. The Holy See Press Office admitted one day later that the Vatican had been informed of the matter in 2019.
“We are beginning the work of collecting information and putting together a file,” said a Vatican official who wished to remain anonymous.
The official told La Croix that the accusations against the 74-year-old retired bishop, a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco congregation, are being “taken very seriously” in Rome.
He pointed out that the investigation “has only just begun” and will likely involve a “long” process.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) became aware of allegations in 2019 and imposed sanctions on the bishop a year later. They included limitations on his priestly ministry and “a ban on voluntary contact with minors, interviews and contacts with East Timor”.
Earlier reports
But complaints against the Timorese bishop were reported nearly a decade earlier to the Dicastery for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Commonly known as “Propaganda Fide”, this office is responsible for helping the pope administer the Church in “mission” territories like Timor-Leste.
It knew of problems related to Belo already back in 2002 when the bishop abruptly stepped down at age 54 – nearly 20 years earlier than the normal retirement age – under the guise of moral and physical exhaustion.
“Today’s procedures did not exist in 2002,” said the Vatican source.
After Belo resigned, the Salesians sent him to Mozambique, to carry out – as he put it – “pastoral work of teaching catechism to the youth”.
Complaint filed only years later
The late filing of complaints to the DDF could also be explained by the fact that the Vatican was aware of cases that did not involve minors.
Only in cases of abuse of minors is the dicastery automatically involved.
Monsignor Marco Sprizzi, chargè d’affaire at the papal nunciature in Timor-Leste, appealed to the Southeast Asian nation’s Catholics on October 4 to accept the sanctions the Vatican has placed on Bishop Belo, saying that these were “serious crimes”.