The Vatican on Thursday acknowledged that it had secretly disciplined East Timor bishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Carlos Ximenes Belo two years ago, responding to allegations that he sexually abused boys in East Timor decades before.
The Vatican’s acknowledgment came in response to reporters’ questions following an article this week in Dutch magazine De Groene Amsterdammer.
In its report, De Groene Amsterdammer quoted two men, identified with pseudonyms, as saying Belo raped them when they were 14 and 15 and then later gave them money.
The publication quoted both men as saying that they believed that Belo had sexually abused other boys in East Timor. Some of the alleged abuse took place in the bishop’s residence in capital Dili.
De Groene Amsterdammer said it had evidence that Belo had also sexually abused boys in the 1990s, when he was a priest.
Reuters could not immediately…
