Dili – Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta strongly criticized the Vatican's representative in East Timor Thursday for what he said was "unwanted interference" in Dili's plans to demote religion classes to an optional subject in the country's public schools.

Ramos Horta said the papal nuncio, Monsignor Malcolm Raamjiph, had made "bellicose" statements, apparently aimed at "heightening tensions rather than helping build consensus", during his visit to Dili last weekend.

According to local media reports, Monsignor Raamjiph urged the predominantly Catholic East Timorese in a sermon Sunday to resist those who attempt to "destroy the Church", an apparent reference to the government's pilot plan to eliminate religion as a required subject in public schools.

Ramos Horta's comments were the first official reaction to mounting criticism of the planned curriculum change from the Timorese church's hierarchy.

While the local church had played an important role in resistance to Indonesia's quarter-century occupation, the foreign minister said it was best "not to talk about the past" as far as the Vatican's stance was concerned.