The Dutch newspaper De Groene Amsterdammer published, this Wednesday, testimonies of alleged victims of sexual abuse, when they were minors, crimes that the former apostolic administrator of Dili and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ximenes Belo, would have committed for several years.
In its online edition, the newspaper explains that it has received news of several victims and about twenty people with knowledge of the case, among whom are “individuals, members of the Government, politicians, employees of civil society organizations and elements of church”.
“More than half of people know a victim of abuse personally and others know about 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,” says the newspaper, one of the country’s leading weeklies.
The newspaper explains that the first investigations into this alleged abuse date back to 2002, when an East Timorese reported that his brother had been abused. In November of that same year, Ximenes Belo announced his resignation from the post, alleging health problems and the need for a long recovery period.
“I suffer from mental and physical exhaustion, which requires a long recovery period,” Ximenes Belo said in a statement in which he reported that he had written to the Holy See requesting the resignation of the post of Apostolic Administrator of Dili, a post he had held since 1983.
“I have been suffering from exhaustion, physical and psychological fatigue, so I need a long period of rest to fully recover my health,” said the statement, quoted by Lusa at the time.
Ximenes Belo, now 74, explained that his request – written on the basis of canon 401 of the code of canon law – was accepted by then-Pope John Paul II.
In an interview with the Catholic news agency UCA News, in 2004, he explained that he left his post in Dili to be vicar in Mozambique, and currently resides in Portugal.
The departure of Ximenes Belo from Timor-Leste caused great surprise in Timorese society, since, until then, the bishop had never expressed his willingness to leave his post.
The Dutch newspaper says the alleged abuses began even before Ximenes Belo was appointed bishop, when he was still a superior at the Salesians of Dom Bosco and Dili, in the 1980s.
The East Timorese mentioned in the article refer to alleged abuses committed in the 1990s. Paulo, now 42, as one of the victims is identified, alleges that while still a minor he was sexually abused in the Ximenes Belo’s house. , in exchange for money.
Some of the first reports of alleged abuse were made known to journalists at the turn of the century, as the journalist points out.
Formally, however, there are no public details on whether the accusations were formalized with the police authorities or with the Vatican.
Even so, the outlines of Ximenes Belo’s departure from Timor-Leste in November 2002 were never fully clarified by the Vatican, making the subject a taboo in the country.
In 2020, speaking to Lusa, a high-ranking element of the Catholic Church in Dili, who requested anonymity, refused to reveal whether or not there had been a formal resignation of Ximenes Belo by then-Pope John Paul II.
The same source, however, referred to what he said were “instructions” to “keep a low profile, not to travel, not to display episcopal insignia, to have a modest attitude.”
Part of the silence about the Nobel Peace Prize is due, the same source admitted, to the fact that the Vatican’s position on sexual abuse in the Church has changed with the last two Popes, with the adoption of a “zero tolerance” policy. .
“There was this progressive awareness of the Church about the seriousness of the matter and about the attitude, the reaction that the Church must have to expel and correct as much as possible this crime within the church, especially within the clergy,” said the same source.
“That was particularly so, especially with Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. And zero tolerance applies in all cases, and also in Timor”, he explained.
In this type of crime, he said, regardless of what may happen in the criminal legislation of the different countries, for the Church “there is no prescription, and even years after being investigated, they receive legal and criminal sanctions” by the Holy Campus.
Source: TSF
