When Pope Francis becomes the first pontiff to visit independent East Timor, he will confront clerics beset by a child abuse scandal largely ignored by the deeply Catholic country’s independence heroes.
The case involves Nobel-winning Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, who helped Asia’s youngest country free itself from Indonesian occupation, but the Vatican has quietly condemned claims he abused minors for decades.
There are calls for the 87-year-old pope to speak out about child abuse when he lands in the former Portuguese colony on Monday (September 9, 2024) as part of his Asia-Pacific tour.
“We ask His Holiness to encourage the leaders and people of Timor-Leste to take more effective measures to prevent sexual abuse,” the Timor-Leste NGO Forum, a coalition of civil society, wrote in a letter Wednesday (September 4, 2024) to the Pope.
BishopAccountability.org, a documentation center on Catholic Church abuse, also asked the head of the Vatican’s sexual abuse commission, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, to “urge” the Pope to “be a champion of victims” during his visit.
Catholic-majority East Timor is one of several countries suffering globally from child abuse by members of the clergy that has long been shrouded in secrecy.
In 2002, Pope John Paul II accepted the sudden resignation of Bishop Belo, then head of the East Timorese church, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.
The Vatican said it was for health reasons but did not elaborate further.
This then allowed him to be sent to Mozambique as a missionary where he worked with children, before he moved to Portugal.
The Vatican secretly sanctioned the bishop in 2020 after he claimed he abused minors under the age of 20 until 2002.
It forbids Bishop Belo from any contact with children or with East Timor, a condition said to be officially accepted.
It was only when the Dutch magazine De Groene Amsterdammer reported on the ban in 2022, including the testimony of a victim who said she was raped by Bishop Belo, that the Vatican went public.
The author of the Dutch magazine report said that the allegations about Bishop Belo became known in 2002.
The Pope then proposed the decision that Bishop Belo should retire rather than face the consequences of having a different attitude.
Support is widespread
This bishop has won the Nobel Prize for defending human rights during the Indonesian colonial period, which lasted for more than two decades.
He was respected at home for protecting the young protesters and saving their lives. This has helped him maintain strong support among the country’s 1.3 million people, 98% of whom are Catholic.
“We feel like we’ve lost him. We miss him,” said Maria Dadi, president of East Timor’s national youth council AFP.
“Because after all he really contributed to the struggle of Timor-Leste.”
In another case, deposed American pastor Richard Daschbach was convicted in 2021 of abusing orphaned and disabled girls.
He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but also found support at the highest levels of Timorese society.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao caused controversy last year when she visited Daschbach to celebrate her birthday and shared a cake with the convicted pedophile. He also attended the trial.
For many in the country, they are happy that Bishop Belo is back for the Pope’s visit.
“We are very sad without Bishop Belo,” said 58-year-old academic Francisco Amaral da Silva. “The government and the Catholic Church should invite him.”
The office of the president of Timor Leste did not respond to a request for comment. President Jose Ramos-Horta said the punishment for Bishop Belo should be meted out by the Vatican.
Limited value
The Pope will meet with Catholic faithful, children, Jesuits and presiding over a huge mass while staying in the capital Dili.
But it is not clear whether he will raise a case that has appalled observers of one of the world’s poorest countries.
The Pope’s schedule does not include meetings with the victims, and the Vatican did not comment before he left Rome. But he could ad-lib the subject in one of his speeches, which would be a strong gesture.
The Pope may also meet the victims in person as he has done before, most recently on his trip to Portugal in 2023.
But supporters of the survivor say the Pope should acknowledge sexual abuse by Church officials of East Timorese children, including Bishop Belo.
“Those abused by Bishop Belo and other clerics will be hoping for a public statement from the Pope about the Church’s continued failure to deal with heretical clerics,” said Tony Gribben, founder of the Northern Ireland-based Dromore survival group.
Mr Gribben said the meeting would “have limited value”, citing the apology given by the Pope for abuse victims on his Irish trip in 2018. “The event was a well-crafted PR exercise,” he said.
“But since then, it’s business as usual.”
Published – 09 September 2024 12:01 IST