Vatican warns maverick archbishop

His Moonie mass wedding was the last straw

By David Willey in Rome

The former head of the Roman Catholic Church in Zambia, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, has been given an ultimatum by the Vatican.

Either he separates from the wife he married last May and leaves the sect known as the Moonies, or he will be excommunicated.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has given the Zambian prelate until 20 August to comply with the conditions imposed for his re-entry into the Catholic Church or he will be thrown out for good.

Archbishop Milingo has been at odds with the Vatican for 20 years.

Faith healing

He was sacked from his position as leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Zambia and called to Rome in 1983, when he was ordered to see a psychiatrist.

He had come under criticism for his public faith healing ceremonies, during which he claimed to cast out evil spirits.

But he continued his ceremonies in Italy, and in other countries, attracting large crowds to his faith healing services until he was finally forbidden to celebrate Mass in Rome and Milan.

Sworn to celibacy

Until last year, he held a minor post in the Vatican bureaucracy.

His sudden marriage last May at a Moonie mass wedding in New York to a Korean woman, chosen as his bride by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon was the last straw.

The news shocked his friends in Rome.

The Vatican said the Archbishop, sworn to celibacy, had placed himself outside the church by marrying.