The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Díli ( la, Archidioecesis Diliensis) is an

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

located in the city of Díli in Timor-Leste. The country's only Major Seminary, the

Seminary of SS Peter and Paul The Seminary of SS Peter and Paul is a Roman Catholic Seminary in Dili, East Timor. It is the country’s only Major Seminary named after the Saints Peter and Paul. It is located in Fatumeta. The seminary was jointly established in 2000 by Bishop C ...

is located within the Diocese. In 1983 Bishop

Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo SDB, commonly known as Carlos Belo or Ximenes Belo (born 3 February 1948) is an East Timorese prelate of the Catholic Church. He became a bishop in 1988 and served as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of ...

S.D.B. took over the administration of Dili Diocese. Then the only diocese in the territory, the 700,000 Catholics were divided into 30 parishes administered by 71 priests. In 2017 the Diocese has 28 parishes with 585,958 Catholics. In 2019 it had grown to 30 parishes in the five districts of Dili, Ermera, Aielu, Ainaro and Manufahi. It has 149 priests, including 63 diocesan priests, 86 religious priests, 132 brothers and 432 nuns. On 11 September 2019,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

elevated Díli to the status of a metropolitan archdiocese; the Ecclesiastical Province of Díli will have two suffragan sees, the Dioceses of Baucau and Maliana. Bishop

da Silva Silva is a surname in Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Portugal and Brazil. It is derived from the Latin word , meaning "forest" or "woodland". It is the family name of the House of Silva. The name is also widespread in Galician-speakin ...

of Díli will be raised to the rank of archbishop.

History

*4 September 1940: Established by the bull ''Sollemnibus Conventionibus'' of Pope Pius XII as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Díli from the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau The Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau ( pt, 1=Diocese de Macau; ) is an exempt (i.e. an immediate subject of the Holy See and not part of any ecclesiastical province) Latin Rite diocese of the Catholic Church, in contrast with the Roman Catholic Di ...

. It was made a suffragan of the

Archdiocese of Goa and Daman The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Goa and Daman ( la, Archidioecesis Goanae et Damanensis, gom, Gõy ani Damanv Mha-Dhormprant, pt, Arquidiocese de Goa e Damão) encompasses the Goa state and the Damaon territory in the Konkan r ...

. *On 1 January 1976 with the bull ''Ad nominum'' of Pope Paul VI the diocese was given exempt status, which made it immediately subject to the Holy See. *12 October 1989:

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

celebrated Mass with crowds of young people of East Timor. *On 30 November 1996 it lost a portion of its territory to the newly erected Diocese of Baucau. *On 20 June 2002, Portugal's ambassador to East Timor inaugurated the

official residence An official residence is the House, residence of a head of state, head of government, governor, Clergy, religious leader, leaders of international organizations, or other senior figure. It may be the same place where they conduct their work-relate ...

of Dili's Archbishop, a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

300,000 building financed entirely by the Portuguese government, to replace the Archbishop's former home, which had been burned down in September 1999. *In 2009 the East Timorese government gave US$1.5 million to two dioceses in East Timor — Dili and

Baucau Baucau ( pt, Baucau, tet, Baukau) is the second-largest city in East Timor, after Dili, the capital, which lies to its west. Baucau has about 16,000 inhabitants, and is the capital of Baucau municipality, located in the eastern part of the ...

, which they are to receive annually "to run social programs for people". Poverty remains a massive problem since independence in 2002, with about half of the 1 million population unemployed and 45 per cent living on less than US$1 a day.

Leadership

;Bishops *Jaime Garcia Goulart (12 October 1945 – 31 January 1967) *José Joaquim Ribeiro (31 January 1967 – 22 October 1977) ;Apostolic administrators *

Martinho da Costa Lopes Martinho da Costa Lopes (11 November 1918 – 27 February 1991) was an East Timorese religious and political leader. He was a priest of the Catholic Church, the highest-ranking official of the Church in East Timor from 1977 to 1983, and a member ...

(22 October 1977 – May 1983) *

, S.D.B. (21 March 1988 – 26 November 2002) **named apostolic administrator, a titular bishop ;Bishops *

Basilio do Nascimento Basilio is a name of Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese origin. It is a cognate of the English name Basil. The name may refer to: Given name * Basilio Augustín (1840–1910), Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines briefly in 1898 *Basilio Badil ...

(26 November 2002 – 27 February 2004) *

Alberto Ricardo da Silva Alberto Ricardo da Silva (4 April 1943 – 2 April 2015) was the Roman Catholic bishop of Dili, East Timor. Early life He was born in Aileu, in East Timor when it was still a Portuguese colony. He studied in the minor seminary of Dili and was ...

(27 February 2004 – 9 February 2015) *

Virgílio do Carmo da Silva Virgílio do Carmo da Silva SDB (born 27 November 1967) is an East Timorese Roman Catholic prelate who was appointed bishop of Dili on 30 January 2016. On 27 August 2022, Pope Francis announced he would make him a cardinal, the first from Ea ...

, S.D.B. (30 January 2016 – 11 September 2019) ;Archbishops *

, S.D.B. (11 September 2019 – present)

References

External links

GCatholic.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dili Christian organizations established in 1940 Dili Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Roman Catholic dioceses in East Timor 1940 establishments in the Dutch East Indies