VATICAN CITY (August 7, 9:15 a.m. PDT)
- An archbishop threatened with excommunication after he got married in
New York in one of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's mass weddings met with Pope
John Paul II Tuesday to plead his case for allowing priests to wed.
The Vatican called the pontiff's meeting with Archbishop Emmanuel
Milingo the start of a dialogue "that is hoped can lead to positive
developments," a Vatican statement said.
Milingo had sought the papal audience to explain his belief that
priests should be allowed to marry and have families, a spokesman for the
archbishop, the Rev. Phillip Schanker, said Tuesday.
Schanker said Milingo had consummated his marriage and that he hoped to
have a family. "He has begun conjugal life," Schanker said in a telephone
interview from Washington.
"He has come to understand that all the blessings of God were meant to
be given through the family," Schanker said.
The Vatican has given the 71-year-old Milingo, once the archbishop of
Lusaka, Zambia, until Aug. 20 to leave his new wife, sever his ties with
Moon's movement, publicly promise to remain celibate and "manifest his
obedience to the Supreme Pontiff." Otherwise, it says, he will be
excommunicated.
Milingo has said he doesn't want to leave the church, although he has
said it needs to be reformed.
Milingo married his 43-year-old bride, selected by Moon, at a mass
wedding held by Moon's Family Federation for World Peace and Unification
at a New York hotel on May 27.
After the wedding, Milingo had asked to be released from his vow of
celibacy, but Schanker said Milingo consummated the marriage before
hearing back from the Vatican.
Milingo's wife traveled with him to Rome, but was not present in his
meeting with the pope, Schanker said.
Schanker said the meeting was arranged through private channels because
Milingo's official requests for an audience had been met with silence from
the Vatican.
Milingo went to the pontiff's summer residence outside Rome Monday
evening and met with Vatican officials. It was not clear whether the pope
received him then.
Milingo has long been at odds with the Catholic hierarchy.
As archbishop of Lusaka, he ran afoul of the Vatican over his faith
healing and exorcisms. He resigned under pressure in 1983, a very rare
occurrence.
He then was brought to Rome as a functionary in the Pontifical Council
for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, but continued public
healing and exorcism. Last year, he was quietly retired from the post.
The Associated Press