Kardinal Roger Etchegaray om Fredsprisen til biskop Carlos F. Ximenes Belo

VATICAN CITY, OCT 12, 1996 (VIS) - Following is a statement released today by Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace:

I rejoiced in the Nobel Prize awarded to Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo. In February, he welcomed me in East Timor where I spent three days visiting this half of the island of which he is apostolic administrator. There I found a young pastor who tirelessly pursues an open dialogue with all those who are concerned for the future of the Timorese people.

Exactly seven years ago, October 12, 1989, Pope John Paul II went there on a lightning visit, highly symbolic. It would be good to cite the Pope's words to the diplomatic corps last January 13: 'The inhabitants of East Timor continue to wait for proposals capable of permitting the fulfillment of their legitimate aspirations to see their cultural and religious uniqueness recognized'.