__Vatican_____________________________
Back in the Fold
After a long-awaited talk with the Holy Father, a renegade
archbishop announces his return to the Catholic faith.
By CWR Staff
On August 5 an African archbishop appeared at the door of the papal summer residence in Castelgandolfo, asking for an audience with the Pontiff. He was ushered inside to meet with the Pope’s secretary, Bishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, but by chance he encountered John Paul II in the hallway. According to Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, this was the first time in over 15 years that he had met with the Pope.
Once regarded as a rising star in the Catholic hierarchy, the first native archbishop leader in a new African country, Archbishop Milingo had fallen so thoroughly out of favor that for years (as he tells the story), his requests for a meeting with the Holy Father had been turned aside—even after he was brought to Rome, having been persuaded to resign from his episcopal assignment in Zambia.
By the time he arrived at Castelgandolfo, Archbishop Milingo had emerged from his enforced isolation. But he had done so only by becoming the leading character in a bizarre international melodrama that had produced countless tabloid headlines and ended with a notification that the archbishop would be formally excommunicated on August 20.
However, the archbishop’s visit to the papal residence was successful. He secured an appointment to speak privately with the Pope. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith removed the threat of excommunication. And in a matter of days, Archbishop Milingo was restored to his full status as a respected prelate—although questions about his future still abounded.
The “witch-doctor bishop”
After Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) gained its independence in 1964, the Holy See made a concerted effort to find native clerics to fill episcopal openings in the young nation. In 1969 a charismatic 39-year-old priest, Father Emmanuel Milingo, was selected to become the first native Archbishop of Lusaka. At first the young archbishop was well accepted among the Catholic faithful of Zambia’s capital city. But as time passed they became uneasy with his approach.
Always a fiery preacher, who had come to prominence because of his ability to command the attention of a listening audience for his radio broadcasts, Archbishop Milingo played heavily on the emotions of his people. He had, and regularly used, the ability to bring a large congregation to the verge of hysteria. In 1973 he announced that he had discovered within himself the prophetic gifts of healing and exorcisms. The “charismatic healing services” that he led now became even more emotional, and some Catholics found them frightening.
When Archbishop Milingo began incorporating the traditional rites of native African religions into his services, the Vatican began to view the young prelate with concern. In Zambia some Catholics viewed him as a visionary, citing his simplicity and humility; others decried him as the “witch-doctor bishop.” Finally in 1982, amid mounting criticism of his unorthodox pastoral practices, the archbishop was forced to resign and summoned to live in Rome—where, presumably, he could be more closely watched.
However, the archbishop had no real duties to perform in Rome. (By the time he burst into worldwide prominence in the summer of 2001, his only formal assignment was as a “special delegate” to the Pontifical Council for Migrants.) Still relatively young and energetic, he traveled around Italy, preaching and conducting the same sort of “healing services” that had caused the original problems in Zambia. He performed as a singer and dancer, recording two albums of his songs.
Once again the Vatican began to hear complaints. Several Italian bishops asked Archbishop Milingo not to disrupt the peace of their diocese; Cardinal Carlo Martini announced that the African exile was persona non grata in his Archdiocese of Milan. In April 1996 he received a new formal caution from the Holy See, instructing him to curb his involvement with unauthorized liturgical ceremonies.
Shunned by the Italian Catholic hierarchy, the African archbishop began to search elsewhere for kindred spirits. He became particularly interested in Sun Myung Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah and founder of the Unification Church. In 1999 he traveled to Korea to witness one of the massive group marriage ceremonies for which the “Moonie” sect has become famous. And in May of this year he was again present for a mass wedding ceremony in New York—but this time as a participant. The archbishop jolted Rome by announcing that he was to become the husband of a 47-year-old Korean woman whom he had never met. Although he had been offered an opportunity to choose his own partner, Milingo—like a faithful member of the Unification Church—relied on the wisdom of Sun Myung Moon to choose his bride.
Threatened excommunication
“By participating in the public marriage rite of the ‘Moon’ sect,” the Vatican announced, Milingo “has de facto placed himself outside of the Catholic Church and has inflicted a serious wound on the communion which bishops above all must show with the Church.” On July 17, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a public notice announcing that if Archbishop Milingo did not renounce his marriage and “make amends for the scandal given” by August 20, he would be subject to formal excommunication. That step would be necessary, the notice explained, “in order to protect the faithful from the serious harm caused by the recent behavior” of the African prelate.
For several weeks after the New York wedding ceremony, the renegade archbishop appeared ready and willing to flout the directives of the Vatican. He lavished praise on Sun Myung Moon, going so far as to say that the Korean “messiah” would fulfill the mission of Jesus Christ, who “was killed before he could finish realizing his plans.”
Such sentiments clearly could not be reconciled with the Catholic faith. But Church officials had another reason to worry about the impact that Archbishop Milingo might have, even beyond his apparent embrace of a heretical sect. The archbishop had told reporters that his marriage was part of an outright rejection of the Church’s discipline of clerical celibacy. He said, “For 43 years as a celibate priest, I only knew God as a male.” Now, thanks to his union with Maria Sung, he said, “I have come to see the other side of God’s heart, which is female.”
The archbishop’s thoughts on this issue were unorthodox, but not unfamiliar. What made them particularly worrisome to the Vatican was the fact that Archbishop Milingo still enjoys a substantial following in Africa—a continent where the discipline of celibacy is widely derided and (from all available reports) frequently violated by members the Catholic clergy. Would the archbishop now rally his supporters for a direct frontal assault on clerical celibacy in Africa?
On August 7, after Milingo met with Pope John Paul, the Vatican issued a mild statement indicating that their discussion formed the beginning of a dialogue “that, it is hoped, can lead to positive developments.” Philip Schanker, a spokesman for the Unification Church, evidently had different ideas as to what those developments might be; he told reporters that Archbishop Milingo wanted to convince the Pope to end clerical celibacy.
Then, as events seemed to be heading toward a climax, Archbishop Milingo disappeared from public view.
Steps toward reconciliation
On August 8—after the fateful meeting between Milingo and the Pope—the Vatican issued a brief announcement indicating that the August 20 deadline had been lifted; the African prelate no longer faced an immediate threat of formal excommunication. The announcement stated that the Pope hoped for “positive developments” after his one-on-one talk with the wayward archbishop. No further details were supplied.
Five days later there was a much more dramatic announcement: Archbishop Milingo had indicated his desire to return to the Catholic fold. He was in seclusion, the Vatican explained, for a “period of reflection and prayer with a view to full reconciliation.” He had accepted the Pope’s challenge to reflect seriously on his life and his responsibilities toward God and the Church.
By this time, the archbishop had been out of sight for six days, and the Korean woman to whom he had been matched in the May wedding ceremony was growing increasingly impatient to see him again. Maria Sung charged that the Vatican was holding her husband against his will, keeping him from her. She announced that she would go on a hunger strike, to end only when she was able to meet personally with Milingo.
Now a new conflict arose, between the Vatican and the Unification Church. Speaking for the Holy See, Father Ciro Benedettini insisted that Milingo should be left alone during his spiritual retreat. “The feelings of Maria Sung deserve respect,” he conceded, “but also deserving respect are the spiritual efforts of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, who has freely asked for a period of reflection and prayer.” The Unification Church—whose spokesmen had by now set up a temporary office in a Rome hotel—focused instead on the rights of Maria Sung, demanding a meeting between the couple.
Soon the argument between the Vatican and the Moon sect was being explored in detail by the Italian media. Vatican officials argued that the marriage between Milingo and Sung was invalid, since the archbishop, who had pledged his life to celibacy, was not free to make a marital commitment, and because an individual cannot make a genuine commitment to a partner he has not met prior to a group wedding ceremony. Unification Church spokesmen fired back an announcement that the marriage had been consummated. A rumor arose that Maria Sung was pregnant; after a few days (and a pregnancy test) that story was put to rest. Sung told reporters that she suspected her husband had been drugged. Vatican sources responded that he was recovering from the effects of brainwashing at the hands of the “Moonies.”
A first public statement
On August 14, the Vatican released a message in which Archbishop Milingo publicly declared his decision to return to the Catholic Church “with all my heart, renouncing my living together with Maria Sung and my relationship with the Rev. Moon and the Family Federation for World Peace.” Addressing his words to Pope John Paul, the repentant archbishop said: “Your words: ‘In the name of Jesus, come back to the Catholic Church’ were both a call to my home Church and a paternal order to live out my faithfulness and obedience to you, Christ’s representative on earth.”
Maria Sung and her entourage were not persuaded. Calling a press conference at their hotel headquarters, they vowed: “We will not leave until Archbishop Milingo meets with Maria Sung, and the Vatican recognizes the human rights of these two people.” The two-hour press conference in Rome was a dramatic event, and spokesmen for the Moon sect faced a series of questions about rumors and charges circling around the case. Philip Schanker angrily denied reports that the Zambian archbishop had been drugged or brainwashed before the May marriage ceremony. Maria Sung also denied reports that she was under pressure from Moon to marry Archbishop Milingo, or to undertake a hunger strike.
Once again the tensions began to build. Maria Sung continued her fast, and the Unification Church announced that she had been forced into a wheelchair because of the weakness caused by her hunger. Yang Il Be, the South Korean ambassador to the Holy See, offered to act as an intermediary between the Vatican and the Unification Church. But when the ambassador reportedly attempted to deliver a personal letter from Milingo, in which the archbishop said farewell to Maria Sung, she refused to accept the missive, hinting that it was not genuine.
Two weeks after the archbishop’s meeting with Pope John Paul, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters, “Archbishop Milingo will meet with Maria Sung, to tell her about his decisions.” He emphasized—in an obvious response to the charges from Unification Church officials—that the archbishop was making his decisions “in complete freedom.” On August 24, Archbishop Milingo himself emerged from isolation, appearing on a television news broadcast to explain his behavior.
“The words of the Holy Father—’in the name of Jesus Christ come back to the Catholic Church’—moved me,” he said. “My deepest desire is to obey the Holy Father and submit to the laws of the Church.” Reading aloud from the letter he had addressed to Maria Sung, the archbishop said: “I love you as a sister and I will continue to pray for you for the rest of my life.” Milingo added:
I really believe that if this letter had got to Maria, she would have understood. But they (Unification Church members) stopped it getting to her, as you have seen.
Maria Sung watched the broadcast in her Rome hotel, in the company of several reporters. “It’s not possible, it’s not possible. He’s been drugged, he’s been drugged,” she repeated after Milingo had read the letter. She then stood up, wringing her hands, and left the room.
A final meeting
On August 29 the archbishop finally did meet face-to-face with Maria Sung, and handed her another hand-written note. “My commitment to the life of the Church, including celibacy, does not allow me to be married,” Milingo wrote. “The calling of the Church is my primary pledge and the right one.” The letter was addressed to “My dear sister Maria Sung.” It closed: “I sympathize with your suffering. I am with you in everything.”
After three weeks of charges and counter-charges, relations between the Vatican and the Unification Church were tense enough so that the meeting between Milingo and Sung came only under carefully negotiated conditions. They met in a “neutral” hotel, roughly midway between the Vatican and the Unification Church headquarters. The level of mistrust was evidenced by the fact that each side sent five “witnesses” to the meeting; those witnesses included Philip Schanker and Joaquin Navarro-Valls.
But it all ended quietly. Maria Sung told reporters after the meeting that she was satisfied by the archbishop’s personal explanation. She said that she, too, would remain celibate for the remainder of her life. She said that Milingo had persuaded her to end her hunger strike. Sung sharply rejected the suggestion that she had received some form of financial compensation from the Vatican. Although Unification Church officials had made a public demand for a cash settlement, Sung said, “That is not what concerns me.”
Then, in a surreal ending to a bizarre story, an Italian newspaper reported that Maria Sung was already married when she met Archbishop Milingo. According to the Turin daily La Stampa, Maria Sung was still legally married to an Italian businessman at the time of the May ceremony in New York. If true, that story would mean that neither party to the arranged “marriage” had been free to make a marital commitment.
However, by the time La Stampa published that sensational report, the Italian media had lost interest in the story. Archbishop Milingo and Maria Sung had now agreed with what the Vatican always proclaimed: that their union was not a real marriage. The Unification Church reluctantly accepted that conclusion, and Moon spokesmen called off their public-relations offensive in Rome.
Now the attention of curious journalists turned to the future of Archbishop Milingo. How would the Vatican handle this unusual prelate, who had caused such a scandal, but finished it with such a humble statement of his repentance? At 71, the Zambian archbishop is still four years short of the regular retirement age for Catholic bishops, and his health seems robust. Italian bishops are quietly suggesting that Milingo should no longer remain in Rome without enough pastoral responsibilities to keep him busy. A new assignment in Africa would seem highly unlikely; even if the marriage was invalid, the public impression created by an archbishop with a Korean “wife” could be disastrous to the cause of celibacy there. Rumors around the Vatican suggest that Archbishop Milingo might be given a modest assignment somewhere far from his old haunts, in Canada or New Zealand.
Back to Catholic World Report October 2001 Table of Contents