VATICAN CITY (AP) — An archbishop whose marriage
scandalized the Vatican has agreed to meet with his wife after
a two-week spiritual retreat, the Vatican said Wednesday.
Emmanuel Milingo, 71, ``will meet Maria Sung to communicate
his decisions to her,'' said Vatican spokesman Joaquin
Navarro-Valls.
A date wasn't immediately announced.
``Both the meeting and the conditions of it have been
decided by Mons. Milingo in total liberty,'' Navarro-Valls
said in a statement released by the Vatican. ``The Holy See
cannot and does not want to impose anything upon the
conscience of the archbishop.''
Milingo and Sung, 43, were married at a May 27 group
wedding in New York conducted by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
Sung says she hasn't heard from Milingo since Aug. 8, the
day after the Zambian archbishop met with Pope John Paul II
after the Vatican threatened to kick him out of the church if
he didn't leave Sung.
Earlier this month, the Vatican released what it said was a
handwritten, signed letter from Milingo in which he said he
had decided to return to the church and leave his wife.
Since Milingo disappeared from public sight, the Vatican
has not disclosed his whereabouts, saying only that he is on a
spiritual retreat and that he should be left alone to pray.
Sung has been on a hunger strike since Aug. 14 aimed at
forcing a meeting with her husband.
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