Ave Maria Church is a

Latin Rite Latin Rite may refer to: *The Latin Church, a ''sui iuris'' church of the Catholic Church *The Latin liturgical rites, a family of Christian rites and uses which includes the Roman Rite *The Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritua ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in

Suai Suai is a city in Timor-Leste, in Suai Subdistrict. It has a population of 9,866 and is located to the southwest of Dili, the national capital. Suai is the capital of the Cova Lima District, which is in the southwest of the country. It is loca ...

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

. The town of Suai stands 180 km from the Timorese capital of

Dili Dili (Portuguese language, Portuguese and Tetum language, Tetum: ''Díli'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Timor-Leste. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountai ...

,BBC News 30 August 2009
/ref> in the

Cova Lima Cova Lima (, ) is a municipality of East Timor, in the Southwest part of the country. It has a population of 59,455 (Census 2010) and an area of 1,230 km2. The capital of the municipality is Suai, which lies 136 km from Dili, the n ...

municipality and is part of the Diocese of Maliana. The Ave Maria church has a 70-foot-tall

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a relig ...

.Associated Press 14 October 1999
/ref>

References

Cova Lima Municipality Roman Catholic churches in Timor-Leste Catholic Church in Timor-Leste {{EastTimor-stub