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April 4 - April 11, 2004 |
Archbishop Returns from Honeymoon
Originally Published: 2004-03-21
The most famous stray of the Catholic Church, African archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, has returned to Italy again after reportedly fleeing to his native Zambia in late 2003.
Milingo, with his crucifix slightly askew over his ample belly, appeared on Italian television, seated in row of bishops behind Pope John Paul II. The pontiff was giving an audience to the Focolare Movement, which is credited with negotiating Milingo’s return after the 2001 elopement.
Milingo's recent disappearance and reappearance are still shrouded in mystery. After Vatican officials stopped him from appearing at a press conference in November 2003, he left unexpectedly for Northern Italy to undergo medical exams. This sparked rumors that he was contemplating moving from where Church officials have him under ‘house arrest’ in a Rome-area monastery.
He then left for Africa and, according to news reports Vatican officials knew, but did not authorize, Milingo’s trip home. Church officials also did not know when he planned to return.
Milingo, who has been at odds with the papacy for over twenty years, shocked the church in 1991 marriage to a Korean-born woman named Maria Sung. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who is head of the Unification church (also known as the “Moonies”). Within a few months of the marriage Milingo repented and returned to Rome, where church officials have kept him out of the public eye ever since.
Milingo is no stranger to controversy. In 1983 he was fired from his post as head of the Catholic Church in Zambia, and ordered to come to Rome. He had come under criticism for his public faith healing ceremonies, during which he claimed to cast out evil spirits. On his arrival in Rome he was ordered to see a psychiatrist. But he continued his ceremonies in Italy, and in other countries, attracting large crowds to his faith healing services until he was finally forbidden to celebrate Mass in Rome and Milan.
Italian papers reported that Maria Sung has not given up on her short-lived marriage: she reportedly came to Italy and tried to visit Milingo during his recent hospitalization but police guarding the archbishop refused to let her in.
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