"I have no regrets about the decision and I would like to say that we are an eternal couple, no matter what," Maria Sung said at Kennedy Airport after her journey from Rome.

Sung, 43, and Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, 71, shocked Rome in May when they got hitched in a mass ceremony performed by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church.

The archbishop, who had been assigned to the Vatican, was threatened with excommunication - and then disappeared Aug. 8 after meeting with the pope.

He reappeared last week on Italian television, where he read a letter to Sung saying he was leaving her for the church. He met with Sung last Wednesday to break off their marriage.

Sung, who went on a hunger strike during her husband's absence, said she still considers herself the cleric's wife - but respects his decision to return to the church.

"I believe his being separated from the Catholic Church would have been a greater pain than being separated from me," Sung said through a translator.

Sung said the couple had consummated the marriage. "Yes, we did. I can tell you for sure," she said.