Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo advocates peacefully resolving the problems of Indonesian occupation of East Timor.
On February 3, 1948, Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, a Roman Catholic bishop who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, was born. He was born in Baucau, East Timor, at a time when the country was still a Portuguese colony. In 1975, East Timor declared independence, but was occupied by neighboring Indonesia the same year. Bloody clashes ensued, and residents of East Timor have been unable to achieve independence for decades.
Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo advocates peacefully resolving the problems of Indonesian occupation of East Timor. It is important to note that East Timor is a majority Catholic state, and Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo has been the highest figure in the Catholic Church in East Timor since 1983. By the way, East Timor is the second most Catholic country in Asia after the Philippines.
