Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Díli

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. Originally the diocese was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman.
• On 1 January 1976 under the bull Ad nominum of Pope Paul VI the diocese became immediately subject to the Holy See.
• On 4 September 1990 the diocese celebrated its 50th anniversary.
• On 30 November 1996 it lost a portion of its territory to the newly erected Diocese of Baucau.
• In 2009 the government gave US$1.5 million to two dioceses in East Timor — Dili and Baucau, 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.
• 1 February 2010: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dili loses territory to form the newly erected Roman Catholic Diocese of Maliana, the third Roman Catholic diocese in East Timor
• Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass with crowds of young people of East Timor on 12 October 1989. In 2008 a chapel and statue were built and dedicated in his honour in the suburb of Tasi-Tolu, in the Diocese. These were blessed by the Apostolic Nuncio of East Timor, Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli.

  Leadership

• Archbishop Virgílio do Carmo da Silva, S.D.B.

• *Bishop Virgílio do Carmo da Silva, S.D.B.
• *Bishop Basilio do Nascimento
• *Bishop Alberto Ricardo da Silva
• *Bishop Basilio do Nascimento
• *Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, S.D.B.
• *Fr. Martinho da Costa Lopes
• *Bishop José Joaquim Ribeiro
• *Bishop Jaime Garcia Goulart