After his ordination in 1978, Soares spent six months at a parish in , where he celebrated his first
mass.''' Upon arriving at the airport, he asked about his parents and learned that his mother had already died, but that his father was still alive. and it was it there that he earned the nickname "Maubere". In 1982, Soares was appointed superior of the mission in
Uatolari and president of the catechetical commission of the
Diocese of Dili. As a priest, Soares traveled from place to place, offering spiritual care to people in areas under Indonesian control. He defended the guerrillas' use of violence, arguing "If they see people with weapons pointed at them, they have the right to self defense." On 5 August 1990, Soares was appointed pastor of the parish in
Suai, a town on the south coast. Before the group's departure, Soares married Reinado and Maria Alves and baptized the couple's six-month-old baby. That year, Soares went into exile in Portugal amid pressure from the Indonesian authorities. Soares received his award from Cardinal
Godfried Danneels in a ceremony at
St Mary's University in
London. Upon returning to East Timor, Soares served as the CNRT's general coordinator and spokesman. During the
crisis following the
1999 East Timorese independence referendum, Soares went to
Mount Ramelau to escape the violence, where he spent time in prayer. On 1 September 2002, Soares became pastor of Nossa Senhora de Lourdes parish in
Ermera, a post he held until 2005.
Post-independence demonstrations in Dili, 2005In the years following
Timor-Leste's independence in 2002, Soares remained an outspoken activist, often making public statements on issues like corruption, abuse of power, violence against women, and social inequality. Soares participated in the protests daily, often using a microphone to lead the crowd in prayer and to denounce the government. An agreement was ultimately signed between Alkatiri and the bishops restoring Catholic education as a mandatory school subject. In January 2006, national media reported that Soares had said in a sermon in
Same that Fretilin was communist and would kill all of Timor-Leste's priests and nuns if they won the next general election. In 2007, Soares accused the government of withholding rice supplies and giving them to Fretilin supporters, a claim that Deputy Prime Minister
Estanislau da Silva called "irresponsible." During the
April–June 2006 crisis in Timor-Leste, interior minister
Rogério Lobato accused some clergy of supporting the "petitioners group"—defecting
Timor-Leste Defence Force (F-FDTL) soldiers and their supporters, who were protesting in Dili. Soares responded that "the church is everywhere to attend to the cries and suffering of the people" and that the church was providing counsel to the petitioners to help resolve the crisis peacefully. In March 2007, in the aftermath of the
Battle of Same, a failed attempt by Australian forces to apprehend rebel leader and F-FDTL defector
Alfredo Reinado, the government considered using Soares as a mediator. In 2010, he helped to reactivate Grupo Macau Rai Timor, an East Timorese association in Macau, which was established by another East Timorese priest in 1996. In February 2015, he returned to Timor-Leste, having been called to serve as
vicar general of the Diocese of Dili by Bishop Alberto da Silva. He returned to Macau in 2016 to complete his doctorate in
Christian studies, with a dissertation titled
The Diocese of Macau at the dawn of the Diocese of Dili (
Portuguese:
A Diocese de Macau no alvorecer da Diocese de Dili). In July 2017, he left Macau and returned to Timor-Leste. In 2020, after fighting broke out between deputies in the
National Parliament, he visited parliament and openly criticized the nation's lawmakers, saying, "[The deputies] should not behave as if they are in a
cockfighting arena... I demand the leaders of this country solve national problems wisely." His remarks resonated among East Timorese
social media users. On 18 May 2023, Soares was awarded the Grand Collar of the
Order of Timor-Leste in recognition of "his dedication to the national cause, and for his exemplary life testimony." Soares received his decoration the following day in a ceremony at the
Palácio de Lahane in Dili. == Illness and death ==