Portuguese Timor was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies.
Balibo is a town in East Timor situated approximately 10 kilometres from the Indonesian border. It is located in the sub-district of Balibo, Bobonaro District.
The Balibo Five was a group of journalists for Australian commercial television networks who were murdered in the period leading up to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. The Balibo Five were based in the town of Balibo in East Timor, where they were killed on 16 October 1975 during Indonesian incursions before the invasion. Roger East travelled to Balibo soon after to investigate the likely deaths of the Five and was later executed by members of the Indonesian military on the docks of Dili.
Bobonaro is a municipality in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste commonly known as East Timor. It is the second-most western municipality on the east half of the island. It has a population of 92,045 and an area of 1,376 km2.
East Timor was a province of Indonesia between 1976 and 1999, during the Indonesian occupation of the country. Its territory corresponded to the previous Portuguese Timor and to the present-day independent country of East Timor.
The Catholic Church in Timor-Leste is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome.
The Indonesian invasion of East Timor, known in Indonesia as Operation Lotus, began on 7 December 1975 when the Indonesian military (ABRI/TNI) invaded East Timor under the pretext of anti-colonialism and anti-communism to overthrow the Fretilin regime that had emerged in 1974. The overthrow of the popular and short-lived Fretilin-led government sparked a violent quarter-century occupation in which approximately 100,000–180,000 soldiers and civilians are estimated to have been killed or starved to death. The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor documented a minimum estimate of 102,000 conflict-related deaths in East Timor throughout the entire period from 1974 to 1999, including 18,600 violent killings and 84,200 deaths from disease and starvation; Indonesian forces and their auxiliaries combined were responsible for 70% of the killings.
The Indonesian occupation of East Timor began in December 1975 and lasted until October 1999. After centuries of Portuguese colonial rule in East Timor, the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Portugal led to the decolonisation of its former colonies, creating instability in East Timor and leaving its future uncertain. After a small-scale civil war, the pro-independence Fretilin declared victory in the capital city of Dili and declared an independent East Timor on 28 November 1975.
The majority of the population of Timor-Leste is Christian, and the Catholic Church is the dominant religious institution, although it is not formally the state religion. There are also small Protestant and Sunni Muslim communities.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Díli is an archdiocese located in the city of Díli in Timor-Leste.
Bilateral relations exist between Australia and East Timor. The two countries are near neighbours with close political and trade ties. East Timor, the youngest and one of the poorest countries in Asia, lies about 610 kilometres northwest of the Australian city of Darwin. Australia has played a prominent role in the young republic's history.
Balibo is a 2009 Australian war film that follows the story of the Balibo Five, a group of journalists who were captured and killed while reporting on activities just prior to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor of 1975. The film is loosely based on the 2001 book Cover-Up by Jill Jolliffe, an Australian journalist who met the men before they were killed.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Maliana is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in East Timor. The newest of the country's three dioceses, it was established in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI. It serves nearly 300,000 Catholics in the municipalities of Bobonaro, Cova Lima, and Liquiçá, covering a total area of 3,142 km2. The current bishop since the diocese's founding is Norberto do Amaral.
The Minor Seminary of Our Lady of Fatima is a Roman Catholic seminary, located in Dare, Dili, East Timor. Established in 1936, it is the oldest Roman Catholic seminary in East Timor. The seminary was initially established in Manatutu district, south of Dili. In 1951 it was moved to Dare. In 1954 the Vatican canonically registered the seminary. It was taken over by the Jesuits in 1958, and moved to the outskirts of Dili in 1978.
Norberto do Amaral is the Roman Catholic Bishop of Maliana, East Timor. He was appointed on 30 January 2010. Previously, he served as an assistant pastor and as a pastor, as Rector of the Diocesan Minor Seminary in the Diocese of Díli, and in other offices in the Catholic Church in East Timor.
The Church of Santo António de Motael is the oldest Roman Catholic church in East Timor and is located in Dili, the country's capital city. It is dedicated to Anthony of Padua. While the first church at this location was built around 1800, the current building dates back to 1955.
The East Timor genocide refers to the "pacification campaigns" of state terrorism which were waged by the Indonesian New Order government during the Indonesian invasion and occupation of East Timor. The majority of sources consider the Indonesian killings in East Timor to constitute genocide, while other scholars disagree on certain aspects of the definition.
Isabel Barreto Lobato was a Portuguese Timorese and East Timorese politician, political activist, and member of Fretilin who was active in the movement for independence from Portugal. Barreto Lobato was a leading member of the Fretilin Women's Association at the time of East Timor's unilateral declaration of independence in November 1975. She was the wife of East Timor's UDI prime minister, Nicolau dos Reis Lobato, who held the office for nine days before the Indonesian invasion and occupation.
Richard Daschbach is an American former Roman Catholic priest who lives in Oecusse-Ambeno, the East Timorese exclave in West Timor. He ran a children's home there starting in 1991 during the Indonesian occupation. In 2018 he was the first Catholic priest in East Timor to be accused of child abuse. He was laicized and sentenced to twelve years in prison.
East Timor 
