Belo to attend humanism seminar

DILI, East Timor: Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo will leave Jakarta today for Prague for an international seminar on humanism.

The seminar on humanism in the 21st century is scheduled to open Thursday. About 200 people will participate in the seminar, including heads of government, religious leaders, scientists and observers of humanist matters.

Belo said he would try to contribute ideas to the Western world, especially Eastern Europe where ideological wars had torn countries apart. He added he would help countries choose the right track in entering the third millennium with a new humanism.

Chairman of the East Timor Center for Development Studies (PSPTT) Domingos M.D. Soares said a team from the center had prepared a paper to be presented by Bishop Belo at the Prague seminar.

The paper was written in Indonesian and Portuguese.

Enriched by precious and scientific analyses made by Leo Kleden, a philosophy lecturer at Ledalero Catholic Higher Learning Institute, the paper discussed humanism for the 21st century from the viewpoint of the ideal values incorporated in Indonesia's state Pancasila philosophy, Soares said. (33)