CIVILTA-MILINGO Jul-6-2001 (610 words) xxxi
Jesuit magazine says Zambian archbishop abandoned Christianity
By Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) -- When Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo was married by the founder of the Unification Church, he abandoned Christianity, said an influential Jesuit magazine.

Knowingly and freely joining the movement of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon is ``the abandonment of the Christian faith and therefore, apostasy,'' said La Civilta Cattolica, a magazine reviewed by the Vatican before publication.

When Archbishop Milingo, a former Vatican official, was married in New York in a late-May ceremony conducted by Rev. Moon, the Vatican said, ``He has placed himself outside the Catholic Church.''

Church penalties, including suspension from priestly ministry and possible excommunication, were to be communicated to the archbishop personally and then made public.

However, as of July 6 the Vatican had not published a notification regarding penalties against the archbishop.

The article in the early July issue of the Jesuit magazine explained why the teachings of Rev. Moon could not be considered compatible with Christianity.

The piece was titled, ``The healer and the `messiah': Archbishop Milingo and the Rev. Moon.'' The Zambian archbishop was noted as a faith healer; Rev. Moon's followers see their leader as the new messiah.

The Jesuit magazine said Archbishop Milingo's marriage caused scandal in the church, but particularly hurt ``the many Christians who believed in him and his charisms of healing and of freeing people from physical and spiritual ills.''

And, while under church law it may be difficult to say that someone who claims to be Catholic is an apostate, the magazine said in the case of joining the Unification Church the situation is clear.

``Subjectively, a person who adheres to the Unification Church can maintain and say he still belongs to the Catholic Church; but objectively, he has placed himself outside of the church,'' the article said.

People can admire Rev. Moon's commitment to the family and to racial harmony, it said, but his religious vision and teachings are ``radically non-Christian because he denies all of the essential truths of Christianity: the Holy Trinity and the divinity of Jesus Christ, first of all.''

Rev. Moon talks about various Christian truths, but interprets them in a completely non-Christian way, the magazine said.

According to Rev. Moon, it said, ``the death of Jesus on the cross was `a terrible human error,' which prevented the restoration of the world and made a Second Advent necessary.''

Rev. Moon teaches that Jesus' death ``had no salvific value. On the contrary, Jesus failed to complete his mission, so it was necessary that a new messiah -- the Rev. Moon? -- would come to complete his work, founding new families who, connected to him, would generate children immune from sin,'' the magazine said.

The marriage of couples by Moon and his wife -- called the ``true parents'' by their followers -- is a key part of Rev. Moon's religious vision, the magazine said.

According to his teaching, it said, only by being united in marriage can people ``create that harmony which allows them to reach the love of God; that is, to be happy themselves and make God happy, because God needs the love of human couples in order to be happy.''

The magazine said Rev. Moon teaches that Jesus failed in his mission because he was to be the ``new Adam,'' united in marriage to a perfect bride, the ``new Eve,'' have children and create a new human family restored to harmony with God.

While Rev. Moon has not said he is the new messiah, he has said the new messiah was born between 1917 and 1930 in Korea -- as Moon was -- and that ``gradually his identity would be revealed to all humanity,'' the magazine said.

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