On Wednesday, the Dutch newspaper De Groene Amsterdammer published testimonials from alleged victims of sexual abuse, when they were still minors, about crimes that were allegedly committed for years by the former Apostolic Director of Dili and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ximenes Belo.
In your online editionthe paper explains that it heard from several victims and 20 people with knowledge of the case, including “individuals, members of the government, politicians, civil society workers and elements of the Church”.
“More than half of the people know a victim of abuse personally and others are aware of the case. De Groene Amsterdammer spoke with other victims who refused to tell their story in the media,” says journalist Tjirske Lingsma.
“Paulo and Roberto,” the two alleged victims interviewed for the article, “know other victims,” reports the newspaper, one of the country’s leading weekly newspapers.
Story of the day | The abuse by Nobel laureate Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo. ‘The bishop had money for me, to make sure I would keep my mouth shut’ @tjitskelingsma https://t.co/FblF1PILJK
– By Groene Amsterdammer (@DeGroene) September 28, 2022
The paper explains that the first investigations into this alleged abuse date back to 2002, when an East Timorese reported that his brother had been the victim of abuse.
In November of that year, Ximenes Belo announced his resignation, citing health problems and the need for a long recovery period.
“I suffer from mental and physical fatigue, which requires a long period of convalescence,” Ximenes Belo said in a statement reporting that he had written to the Holy See requesting that he resign from the post of Apostolic Administrator of Dili. a position he has held since 1983.
“I suffer from exhaustion, physical and psychological fatigue, so I need a long period of rest to fully recover my health,” the statement, quoted by Lusa at the time, said.
Ximenes Belo, now 74, explained that his request — written on the basis of Canon 401 of the Code of Canon Law — was accepted by the then Pope John Paul II.
On November 27, 2002, the Vatican confirmed, through the newspaper “L’Osservatore Romano”, that “the Holy Father accepted the resignation of the office of Apostolic Administrator ‘Sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis’ of Dili (East Timor), handed over His Venerable Excellency, Monsignor Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, Titular Bishop of Lorium, in accordance with canon 401.2 of the Code of Canon Law”.
In an interview with the Catholic news agency UCA News, in 2004, he explained that he left his post in Dili to become an assistant priest in Mozambique, and that he currently resides in Portugal.
The departure of Ximenes Belo from East Timor caused great surprise in Timorese society, because the bishop had never indicated that he wanted to leave his post until then.
The Dutch newspaper reports that the alleged abuses started before Ximenes Belo was appointed bishop, when he was still superior in the Salesians of Dom Bosco, in Dili, in the 1980s.
The Timorese mentioned in the article refer to alleged abuses committed in the 1990s. Paulo, now 42 years old as one of the victims is identified, claims he was the target of sexual abuse when he was a minor at the house of Ximenes Belo, in exchange for money.
Some of the first reports of alleged abuses were made known to journalists at the turn of the century, as the journalist notes.
Formally, however, there are no public details as to whether the allegations have been formalized with the police or with the Vatican.
Yet the contours of Ximenes Belo’s departure from Timor-Leste, in November 2002, were never fully clarified by the Vatican, making the subject taboo in the country.
Church sources in East Timor, heard by Lusa, explained that “no victim” has reported alleged abuse, both to the nunciature and the Timorese church, without any information about a complaint to the civil authorities.
Yet they point to a study whose contours are unknown.
In 2020, in statements to Lusa, a senior element of the Catholic Church in Dili, who asked for anonymity, declined to reveal whether or not there was a formal resignation of Ximenes Belo by the then Pope John Paul II.
However, the same source referred to what he said were “instructions” to “keep a low profile, not to travel, not to display episcopal insignia, to have a modest demeanor”.
Part of the silence over the Nobel Peace Prize is due, the same source admitted, to the fact that the Vatican’s stance on sexual abuse in the church has changed with the last two popes, with the adoption of a “zero tolerance” policy.
“There was a progressive awareness from the church about the seriousness of the matter and about the attitude, the response that the church needs to have to eradicate and correct as much as possible this crime within the church, especially within the clergy,” he said. the same source.
“That was especially true, especially with Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. And zero tolerance applies in all cases, including on Timor,” he explained.
In crimes like this, he said, regardless of what happens in the criminal laws of the different countries, the church has “no statute of limitations, and even years after they are investigated, they face legal and criminal sanctions” from the Holy See.
Dili nunciature says suspicions are with the Holy See
The case of suspected sexual abuse of minors by the former Apostolic Administrator of Dili Ximenes Belo is before the competent authorities of the Holy See, the Vatican’s representative in East Timor said today, without confirming whether or not the prelate has been investigated. .
“Personally, I can neither confirm nor deny it because it is a matter of seriousness on my part, as jurisdiction belongs to my superiors in the Holy See,” Marco Sprizzi, the Pope’s and Vatican’s top representative in East Timor, told Lusa .
“This matter should be addressed directly to the Holy See,” he said, when asked about the veracity of the allegations of alleged abuse of minors committed over several years by Ximenes Belo, now residing in Portugal, and published by the Dutch newspaper.
Marco Sprizzi explained that the matter is “under the attention of the competent Dicasteries of the Holy See and the Secretary of State to His Holiness Pope Francis”, in reference to the structures that make up the Roman Curia.
“They are investigating this article and its channel and others that are currently being published and from there any response will come directly from the Holy See,” he explained.
The “matter is directly with the Vatican and the Holy See. The local church and the nunciature no longer have direct powers,” he stressed.
Speaking to Lusa, Marco Sprizzi said the Dutch newspaper was “correct” and asked several questions to the nunciature in Dili which were “forwarded to the competent Dicasteries of the Holy See”.
Sprizzi declined to confirm whether any restrictions had been imposed on Ximenes Belo, namely the ban on visits to East Timor, confirming only that “he was not secularized” [retirado das funções eclesiásticas].
When asked what happened when Ximenes Belo left in November 2002 – in a decision that caused much surprise at the time – Sprizzi recalled that “Ximenes Belo’s voluntary resignation was based on health reasons”.
In that sense, he explained, the official answer “cannot change because it is given on the basis of canon law”.
“But if something needs to be added, it will be added by the appropriate bodies of Organs,” he laughed.
News updated at 13:37
Source: DN
