in a nation, and yet avoiding overtly suggesting East Timor was a sovereign country. He spoke fervently against abuses in his sermon, whilst avoiding naming the Indonesian authorities as responsible. The Pope spoke out against violence in East Timor, and called for both sides to show restraint, imploring the East Timorese to "love and pray for their enemies." In 1996, Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta, two leading East Timorese activists for peace and independence, received the Nobel Peace Prize for ""their work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor". A number of priests and nuns were murdered in the violence in East Timor that followed the 1999 Independence referendum. The newly independent nation declared three days of national mourning upon the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005. The Catholic Church remains very involved in politics, with its 2005 confrontations with the government over religious education in school and the forgoing of war crimes trials for atrocities against East Timorese by Indonesia. They have also endorsed the new Prime Minister in his efforts to promote national reconciliation. In June 2006 Catholic Relief Services received aid from the United States to help victims of months of unrest in the country. The number of churches has grown from 100 in 1974 to over 800 in 1994. Since 2015, the Salesians of Don Bosco and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians with the help of an international relief organization Stop Hunger Now, have been providing more than 1,100 students across the country with better nutrition through fortified rice-meals. See also List of Catholic dioceses in East Timor Archdiocese of Díli (erected 1940 from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau) Diocese of Baucau (erected 1996 from Roman Catholic Diocese of Díli) Diocese of Maliana (erected 2010 from Roman Catholic Diocese of Díli) Religion in East Timor References East Timor East Timor