Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo

Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo SDB ( born February 3, 1948 in Wailakama, Vemasse subdistrict, district, Baucau ) is a Roman Catholic bishop of East Timor and former Apostolic Administrator of Dili. For his services to the self-determination of East Timor, he was awarded José Ramos -Horta in 1996 with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Life and work

Belo was born in 1948, the fifth child of Domingos Vaz Filipe school teacher and Ermelinda Baptista Filipe in East Timor, his father died two years after birth. The family is descended from farmers in the region. As a child, Belo was careful in Kekeli, the village of his ancestors, water buffalo. About a poor scholarship he received an education at the mission schools in Baucau and Ossu and 1962 could enter the seminary in Dare in Dili. From 1968 he studied philosophy in Lisbon, joined the Order of the Salesians of Don Bosco and was then as a teacher back to East Timor.

1976 Belo left after the invasion and annexation of East Timor by Indonesia his home and went only to Macao. Later he began the study of theology in Lisbon and Rome. 1980 Belo was ordained as a priest in Rome and went to Portugal. A year later he returned to the occupied still by Indonesia East Timor. Rebellions were curbed under massive use of force. Consequently, died by intervention of the UN in 1999 up to 183,000 East Timorese.

Belo in 1983 da Costa Lopes used in place of Martinho from the Vatican as apostolic administrator of Dili. On June 19, 1988 Belo was consecrated bishop ( with the titular Lorium ). He accepted the Indonesian citizenship, rejected the occupation and the violent enforcement of power, however, massively and criticized this, like its predecessor publicly. The Indonesians reacted with open hostility and massive limitations of rights, Belo was also the target of several assassination attempts. In 1996 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to East Timor. In 1989, he attracted international perception through a letter to the UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, in which he suggested a referendum in East Timor over the country's future. In 2002, East Timor became independent.

Belo occurred in November 2002 due to the arisen after the independence of East Timor stressful situation from his position as Bishop of Dili back. To this end, he called for health reasons. He had been injured in the riots of 1999. Belo withdrew from public life and went to Portugal for a cure. As apostolic administrator followed Belo Basílio do Nascimento, who later became Bishop of Baucau. Later, voices were raised, the Belus candidacy as president demanded (as successor to the incumbent Xanana Gusmão ). After his recovery he took a Missionariat in Mozambique.