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Attention News Editors:

Rome exorcist says Archbishop Milingo "brainwashed"

    FORT ERIE, ON, June 1 /CNW/ - The Fatima Center has expressed shock and
dismay at the news that Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo was "married" in a group
wedding presided over by Sun Myung Moon.
    The ceremony took place on Sunday, May 27, in New York. The Archbishop
took this tragic action because he believes that the Lord told him to do it.
    "Now at 71 years of age, after a lifetime of devotion to the Church and
to my priestly vows, the Lord has called me to take a step that will change my
life forever, which will enable me to be a vehicle of His grace and blessing
to Africa and the world, but one which I expect will alter my relationship
with the Roman Catholic Church as well," Milingo said in a statement issued
Saturday.
    "As a celibate priest, matrimony was the furthest thing from my mind. It
is only through the command of Jesus, and the counsel and support of Rev. and
Mrs. Moon that I take this unexpected and bold step, one that I have wrestled
with in my heart for some time", he said.
    Archbishop Milingo obviously failed to follow the Scriptural mandate to
"test the spirit", since the Good Lord would not command a bishop to break his
vow of celibacy. Nor would Heaven direct a Catholic to be married by Sun Myung
Moon, a man whose followers claim that Jesus "is not God", and claim that Moon
is the Messiah who is completing the salvation Jesus Christ failed to
accomplish.
    Catholic News Service reported that Archbishop Milingo had disappeared
from Italy about a week earlier, and could not be reached.
    Three nuns of a religious order founded by the Archbishop had flown from
Zambia to New York to try to find him, hoping they could talk him out of this
drastic step. Even the Vatican made several futile efforts to contact him.
    The Archbishop's recent behavior had been abnormal in other ways.
    Before he ceased communication, he failed to cancel a number of scheduled
appearances in Italy and elsewhere. In North America, he was to appear at a
May Marian conference held in Pittsburgh along with speakers such as Father
Andrew Apostoli and Father Mitchell Pacwa, but the Archbishop himself canceled
this engagement.
    The Fatima Center is deeply saddened by Archbishop Milingo's attempt at
marriage, which, of course, cannot be recognized as such by any Catholic, and
it in no way supports his recent actions in this regard.
    Nor does it support his newly-announced views that the Catholic Church
should abandon its teaching on priestly celibacy.
    Even bishops are not exempt from the snares and deceits of the devil, who
"goes about as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8)
    A possible explanation as to what happened to the Archbishop is found in
the May 27 edition of the Italian daily Il Messaggero, which ran an interview
with Father Gabriel Amorth, an exorcist who has performed more than 5,000
exorcisms in Rome.

       Father Amorth says that he believes Archbishop Milingo had been
                      "brainwashed" by the Moonie sect.

    "Reconstructing the last years in reverse," said Father Amorth, "we have
noticed that the Moon sect made a ruthless hunt for him.
    "Even the persons involved in the coercion have been identified, they
have subjected him to brainwashing. In particular, an Italian family, which
disappeared with him to the U.S.A. There were many of them plotting for some
time to drag him into their net with much astuteness and premeditation. And he
let himself be snared.
    "They got him in a moment of discouragement and depression" Father Amorth
explains. "Perhaps he resented the 'kick out' he received from Holy Mother
Church, he was worn down by the struggle they subjected him to.
    "He didn't realize that he was prey for those who worked on him for a
considerable time, and little by little, they broke him down. Now in my
opinion, Milingo is beyond recovery, because he is no longer approachable."
    Father Amorth, who is a colleague and admirer of Archbishop Milingo,
concludes that the Moonies "have a deadly method for depersonalizing people"
and that there are cases where adherents of the Moonie sect need to be
"deprogrammed" before "they return to normal lives."
    The Fatima Center urges its friends and supporters to pray for the
Archbishop that he may return to his vocation in the Catholic Church.

    The Fatima Center, home of The Fatima Crusader, is the largest, worldwide
Fatima apostolate campaigining for the promotion of the full message of
Fatima, for the release of the Third Secret and for the Consecration of Russia
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Its outreach includes the print media,
internet, radio and television. For more information visit www.fatima.org.



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For further information: Father Paul Kramer, Phone (905) 871-7607, Ext. 
103, Fax: (905) 871-5274, E-mail: fatimapr@softcom.ca, The Fatima Center, 
452 Kraft Road, Fort Erie, Ontario, L2A 4M7