“We accept and submit to any decision issued by the Vatican on the allegation against Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, whether it is right or wrong,” Gregoriu Saldanha, the leader of a youth organization, said at a news conference.

“We will still stand with Bishop Belo, because we realize, as a human being, Belo has weaknesses or mistakes like others,” he continued. “We cannot ignore his kindness and what he has fought for the people of East Timor. Belo is part of our struggle for independence” (from Indonesia).

The Vatican’s representative in East Timor has urged the country’s Catholics to accept the disciplinary penalties imposed on Bishop Belo.