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Catholic Clergyman to Leave Wife Under Vatican Pressure
ROME, Aug 24 (News Agencies) - A Zambian Roman Catholic Archbishop who broke his celibacy vow to marry a Korean acupuncturist said Friday that he was leaving his wife to rejoin the fold of the Church after strong pressure from the Vatican, news agencies reported Thursday.
Emmanuel Milingo, 71, told Italian television he was parting with 43 year-old South Korean doctor, Maria Sung, whom he married in a ceremony in New York last May at which cleric Sun Myung Moon of the South Korean Unification Church officiated.
Milingo said he had attempted to send a letter to his wife but that those around her had refused to deliver it.
Sung, who is in Rome, went on a hunger strike over his absence, alleging that the Vatican had kidnapped him.
The prelate quoted from the letter, saying, "My Mother the Catholic Church has appealed to me to return to the fold. Those who seek me and await me are many."
The former archbishop of Lusaka - healer, exorcist and sometime singer - broke two weeks' silence and separation from his estranged wife to announce his decision.
Meanwhile in a radio interview broadcast in Colombia, his wife vowed to keep up her hunger strike to the death.
Sung, on the ninth day of her strike, spoke from Rome, saying she would love her husband "for the rest of my life."
In the letter he quoted, Milingo recalled the congregations he had built up in Zambia and stated that they awaited his spiritual leadership. "The words of the Holy Father moved me, 'In the name of Jesus Christ return to the Catholic Church.'"
The letter ended with the cleric affirming what he called his "great desire to obey the orders of the Holy father and submit to the laws of the Holy Mother Church."
"I will continue to pray for you all my life, God bless you," the letter ended.
Milingo said he had tried to resume contact with his wife but had been unable to do so because of hindrances from those around her.
Milingo was said to have decided to leave his wife after meeting with Pope John Paul II on August 7. He had not been seen since the meeting until Friday's broadcast.
Sung has accused the Vatican of drugging him and holding him prisoner after he sent a letter to the pope renouncing his marriage.
This week, a leading Roman Catholic cardinal accused the Church of having applied psychological pressure to both Milingo and his wife.
The cardinal's words, issued by the Vatican in a statement, were released a few hours after the Vatican said Milingo wanted to meet his wife to tell her whether or not he was leaving her as the pope has demanded.
Another cleric, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington, reiterated the Roman Catholic Church's stand that it does not recognize marriages among its clergy and reminded Milingo of the vow of celibacy he took when he was ordained. Moon, who officiated the ceremony, celebrated the marriage
"While (Sung) may believe she is doing the right thing, in all likelihood her actions are the result of a process of psychological pressure and unrealistic reasoning," McCarrick said, adding he understood her feelings and prayed for her.
Milingo, who had already been on Vatican "bad books" for holding colorful healing ceremonies and exorcisms, shocked the church when he married Sung in a New York hotel and earned a threat of excommunication unless he renounced his wife and Moon.
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