Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Notes on the Diocese of Baucau, 1996

The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has created (November 30th 1996) the Diocese of Baucau (East Timor), with territory taken from the diocese of Dili, making it immediately subject to the Holy See, and nominated (November 30th 1996) Apostolic Administrator "sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis" of Bacau (East Timor), Reverend Father Basilio Do Nascimento, of the Dili diocesan clergy, Episcopal Vicar for diocesan pastoral, at the same time elevating him to the Titular See of Settimuncia.

Some further information:

East Timor, formerly a Portuguese colony, was integrated into the Republic of Indonesia on July 17th 1976 becoming the 27th Province of that nation. It has an area of 14,609 sq km and a population of over 860,000, the majority of whom (730,000) are Catholics.

Dili diocese, created in 1940, immediately subject to the Holy See, is in the care of Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belos S.D.B. Apostolic Administrator "sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis". Bishops Belo was recently awarded the Nobel peace Prize 1996 for his outstanding contribution towards a just solution to the conflict in East Timor.

The motives for the creation of the new diocese of Baucau, are as follows: the size of Dili diocese and difficulty in communications, which hinder contact between the people and their Bishop; the need to promote the work of evangelization, to improve Christian formation to meet the necessities of the local Church in the country's new political and social context.

Here are the statistics of the mother diocese and the new ecclesiastical circumscription:

(Fides, January 9th, 1997)

- CT