The Catholic Church in East Timor

In East Timor the Catholic Church is the leader in the struggle against the Indonesian government. But the struggle there is not about religion. East Timor is half of an island located south of Indonesia and it was a Portuguese colony "until Indonesia grabbed it in 1975." The great majority of East Timor's population is Roman Catholic. Since 1975 political repression by the Indonesian government has been fought by the Timorese and the battle has placed the Church at the front of the struggle for independence from Indonesia. Many years of guerrilla fighting failed to make any progress for the East Timorese. In 1995 and 1996 the Indonesian government managed to finally "break the back of the clandestine resistance movement" that has fought the invaders since they arrived. But the East Timorese have not given up and in October 1996 the Church's leader in East Timor, Bishop Carlos Belo, was awarded the Nobe

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