Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo was the fifth child of Domingos Vaz Filipe and Ermelinda Baptista Filipe, born in the village of Wailakama, near Vemasse, on the north coast of Portuguese Timor. His father, a schoolteacher, died two years after Belo was born. He attended Catholic schools at Baucau and Ossu and then entered the minor seminary in Dare outside Dili, graduating in 1968. From 1969 until 1981, apart from periods of practical training in East Timor and Macau from 1974 to 1976, Belo studied philosophy at the Catholic University of Portugal and the Salesian Pontifical University.[4]
After Monsignor Martinho da Costa Lopes was removed as apostolic administrator in 1983, his position remained vacant until Belo was appointed titular bishop of Lorium and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Dili, the senior official of the Catholic Church in East Timor, on 21 March 1988.[6] On 19 June 1988, he was consecrated a bishop by the Apostolic Nuncio to Indonesia, Archbishop Francesco Canalini.[7] He chose as his episcopal motto Caritas Veritatis-Veritas Caritatis.[8]
Belo continued on Lopes' path and after five months of taking office he preached a sermon that denounced the Kraras massacre of 1983 and condemned the many Indonesian arrests. He undertook a program of overseas contacts to counter the world's ignorance of the violence in East Timor.
In February 1989 he wrote to the president of Portugal, the pope, and the secretary-general of the United Nations calling for the UN to sponsor and oversee a referendum on the future of East Timor and for international assistance for the East Timorese, who were "dying as a people and a nation". This appeal to the UN became public in April. He further antagonized Indonesian authorities when he gave sanctuary in his own home to youths escaping the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991 and endeavoured to expose how many were killed.
Belo's labours on behalf of the East Timorese and in pursuit of peace and reconciliation were recognised when, along with José Ramos-Horta, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 10 December 1996.[9][a] Belo capitalised upon this honour by meeting with a variety of world leaders, including US President Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela of South Africa.
Following East Timor's independence on 20 May 2002, Belo went to Portugal for several months of medical treatment. He later said he was "suffering from both physical and mental fatigue that will require a long period of recuperation". He and Bishop Basílio do Nascimento, the administrator of another diocese in East Timor, met privately with the pope on 28 October 2002.[11]Pope John Paul II accepted his resignation as Apostolic Administrator of Dili on 26 November 2002. Nascimento was named to succeed him.[12] The Vatican announcement did not explain his retirement at the age of 54, but cited the provision of canon law that allows a bishop to retire for grave reasons or health problems.[13][14]
Following his resignation Belo travelled to Portugal where he said he underwent medical treatment for cancer.[14]
By the beginning of 2004, there were repeated calls for him to return to East Timor to run for president. In May 2004 he told Portuguese state-run television RTP that he had "decided to leave politics to politicians".
Belo started working in the Diocese of Maputo in Mozambique in June 2004 and described his role as "assistant parish priest": "I do pastoral work by teaching catechism to children, giving retreats to young people. I have descended from the top to the bottom." He told an interviewer that he had left Díli because the new political situation required new leadership that could undertake the work of reconciliation without the associations he had with earlier battles. He said he had chosen Mozambique because he did not think he could learn another language and that he had consulted his Salesian superior and Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, who headed the Curia department responsible for missionary territory. He planned to stay for a year.[15]
On 28 September 2022, De Groene Amsterdammer, a Dutch magazine, reported that two men alleged Belo sexually abused them and others as children in East Timor. The magazine's research indicated that Belo sexually abused male children before and during his tenure as a bishop, both in Fatumaca and Díli.[19] The next day a Vatican spokesperson confirmed that Church officials had imposed disciplinary sanctions against Belo in 2020 less than a year after receiving allegations in 2019 about his behavior in East Timor years earlier. These included restrictions on Belo's movements and the exercise of his ministry as well as prohibiting him from having contact with children. He was also forbidden to have any contact with East Timor. The Vatican "modified and reinforced" its disciplinary actions in 2021. Its spokesman said that Belo accepted these rules in both years.[20][14]
^Tukan, Peter; de Sousa, Domingos (March 1997). Beding, Bona (ed.). Demi Keadilan & Perdamaian: Dom Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Peace and Justice Commission Diocese of Dili & Peace and Justice Secretariat Bishops' Conference of Indonesia. pp. 38–39. ISBN9799519101.
^Kohen, Arnold S. (1999). From the Place of the Dead: The Epic Struggles of Bishop Belo of East Timor. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 64, 101.
Belo, Carlos Filipe Ximenes. “The Nobel Lecture,” given by The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 1996, Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Titular bishop of Lorium and Apostolic Administrator of Dili (East Timor): Oslo, 10 December 1996. ANS Mag: A Periodical for the Salesian Community, year 3, no. 25 (December 1996).
Studies
Colombo, Ferdinando. “Timor Anno Zero,” in Bollettino Salesiano 124.4 (April 2000): 18–20.
Cristalis, Irena. Bitter Dawn: East Timor: A People’s Story. London: Zed Books, 2002.
De Vanna, Umberto. “Il mondo ha scelto Timor,” in Bollettino Salesiano 121.2 (February 1997): 4–5.
De Vanna, Umberto. “Il nobel per la pace: La forza della non-violenza a Timor Est,” in Bollettino Salesiano 120.11 (December 1997): 4–5.
Garulo, Carlos. “The Nobel Prize for Peace: who is Bishop Belo?” ANS Mag: A Periodical for the Salesian Community, year 3, no. 23 (November 1996): 6–8. English language edition.
Hainsworth, Paul, and Stephen McCloskey, eds. The East Timor Question: The Struggle for Independence from Indonesia. Foreword by John Pilger; Preface by José Ramos-Horta. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000.
Jardine, Matthew. East Timor: Genocide in Paradise. Introduction by Noam Chomsky; Real Story Series, 2nd ed. Monroe, ME: Odonian Press, 1999.
Kohen, Arnold. From the Place of the Dead: the epic struggles of Bishop Belo of East Timor. Introduction by the Dalai Lama. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.
Lennox, Rowena. Fighting Spirit of East Timor: The Life of Martinho da Costa Lopes. London: Zed Books, 2000.
Marker, Jamsheed; East Timor: a Memoir of the Negotiations of Independence. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003.
Nicol, Bill. Timor, A Nation Reborn. Jakarta: Equinox, 2002.
Orlando, Vito. “Timor… più che paura!” in Bollettino Salesiano 124.1 (January 2000): 18–20.
Pinto, Constâncio, and Matthew Jardine. East Timor’s Unfinished Struggle: Inside the Timorese Resistance: A Testimony. Preface by José António Ramos-Horta. Foreword by Allan Nairn. Boston: South End Press, 1996.
Smith, Michael G. Peacekeeping in East Timor, The Path to Independence, by Michael G. Smith, with Moreen Dee. International Peace Academy: Occasional Paper Series. 1st US ed. Boulder, Col.: Lynne Rienner, 2003.
Stracca, Silvano. “Un vescovo e il suo popolo,” in Bollettino Salesiano 120.1 (January 1996): 10–12
Subroto, Hendro. Eyewitness to Integration of East Timor. Jatkarta: Pustaka Sinar Harapan, 1997.
Taylor, John G. East Timor The Price of Freedom. London: Zed Books, 1999.
Taylor, John G. Indonesia’s Forgotten War, The Hidden History of East Timor. London: Zed Books, 1991.
