Milingo's decision to turn his back on celibacy and marry a woman he'd known for two days has led the Vatican to threaten him with excommunication, but the 71-year-old says he isn't ready to consummate the marriage.

"We must pass through probation: no sex, no kissing until after 40 days," the self-described faith healer told The Post yesterday.

The 40-day No Sex rule is a "divine principle" of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, which selected Milingo's bride.

Moon married Milingo and 43-year-old South Korean acupuncturist Maria Sung, along with 60 other couples, in a ceremony Sunday at the New York Hilton.

A source close to Milingo said the newlyweds are living with a family of Moon disciples in Seattle who are "helping them through the initiation period."

Milingo, who has run afoul of the Vatican for conducting impromptu exorcisms, risks being excommunicated.

But he says he's "taking Catholicism to a higher level."

"This is now we relive the blessings God had planned for Adam and Eve," he said. "We want to bring back true love and peace in the world and respect for families."

In another shot at the Catholic Church, Milingo said celibacy vows lead to homosexuality and pregnancy among priests and nuns.

At least one Catholic priest in New York said Milingo, who resigned as the archbishop of Lusaka in his native Zambia in 1983, was "irrational and insecure," but called on the Vatican to resist excommunicating him.

"That would only make him a martyr," said Father Brian Jordan of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Midtown.