On Wednesday, Dutch weekly magazine De Groene Amsterdammer published the report that Belo had sexually abused boys at his residence in Dili and other places in the 1980s and 1990s.

Asked about the report, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said, as quoted by Kyodo News, that he was aware of the report and would "look into the information".

Separately, Marco Sprizzi, the Vatican representative in Timor Leste told Australian media The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that the Vatican would investigate the claims the magazine made.

“Pope Francis is so much engaged in zero tolerance, so no doubt after an article like that, they are investigating and they will investigate deeply,” Sprizzi said. “I’m sure 100 percent of that.”

Belo, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his nonviolent resistance to Indonesia's 24-year occupation of his homeland and shared the prize with current Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta, currently lives in Portugal.

The magazine quoted some male victims as saying that the 74-year-old priest gave the boys, who lived in extreme poverty, money after abusing them.

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