Archbishop Milingo's voyage.

Rome -- Daily media throughout the world have regaled their readers with updates on the marital misadventures of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, 71, formerly of Lusaka, Zambia.

On May 27, Milingo was married in a group wedding conducted at the Mew York Hilton Hotel by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification church. He was introduced to his bride Maria Sung, 43, an acupuncturist, only a few days before the ceremony, as is the custom with Rev. Moon.

This was not the first time Bishop Milingo has caused embarrassment for the Church. Named Archbishop in the early seventies, in the then rush to replace foreign (i.e., white) bishops with indigenous (i.e., black) bishops, the Vatican felt compelled to force his resignation in 1983, following controversies about his ministry of faith-healing and exorcisms. He was then given a position in Rome where, however, he continued his faith-healing ministry in the Italian countryside, apparently with great popular appeal but to the increasing consternation of Church officials. In 1997, he was banned from churches in at least two archdioceses because of his involvement in impromptu exorcisms.

Father Gabriele Amorth, Rome's chief exorcist, has said that in recent times Milingo was targeted and brainwashed by the Moonies who "caught him in a moment of discouragement and depression." One of these discouragements may have been the order to surrender his (small) Vatican apartment in the fall, leaving him nowhere to go.

The Archbishop's "marriage" was condemned by his fellow bishops in Zambia, whose spokesman stated that he had "betrayed the Zambian people and the Catholic Church." Accounts of the "marriage" in neighbouring Zimbabwe, in the bi-monthly magazine Catholic News, July 2001, led the bishops there -- owners of the magazine -- to suppress the July edition fearing its negative impact on the faithful.

Needless to say, the Vatican had to step in right away, which it did. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Novaro-Valls indicated at first that the Archbishop was about to be excommunicated, stating that Archbishop Milingo had "inflicted a serious wound on the communion which priests above all must show with the Church." A 17 July notification signed by Cardinal Ratzinger threatened him with excommunication by August 20, unless he left his "wife," dissociated himself from Moon's sect, and publicly declared obedience to the Pope. Archbishop Milingo decided to do all three.

In early August, he met with the Pope, whom he had been unable to see during the previous 18 years, and declared his obedience. Then he retired on a spiritual retreat, subsequently issuing a note attacking the "Moonies" and defending celibacy.

Meanwhile, Maria Sung arrived in Rome demanding to see her "husband." She speculated at first that she might be pregnant but this proved not to be so, whereupon she went on a hunger strike, accusing the Vatican of holding her husband against his will. All is well that ends well. In late August an embarrassed Archbishop and Dr. Sung agreed to separate amicably and to pray for one another. He published a letter of apology to the Pope for having created this scandal.

Throughout the summer months, the Vatican has acted with caution. The Archbishop has a considerable personal following as a faith-healer. His break with the Church might have led to the founding of a new sect with illegal but validly ordained priests, who would then scuttle celibacy, like their founder. Some priests in Africa are already breaking the celibacy rule. Archbishop Milingo's return to full communion with the Church, therefore, is a blessing.

One final point. On August 29, the Italian newspaper La Stampa reported that the whole affair was an attempt by the Moonies to discredit the Catholic Church. It provided proof that Maria Sung was already married to a 53-year-old Neopolitan state employee by the name of Salvatore (his surname has not been disclosed for reasons of privacy); that it was the sect which had held Archbishop Milingo virtually incommunicado after his "marriage", forbidding him to meet any of his friends; and that a wealthy American "Mooney" convert, Philip Thanker, had been the main person attempting to block a private meeting between Maria Sung and the Archbishop. Also the marriage in New York does not seem to have been registered in City Hall.