Emmanuel Milingo

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, a provocative African prelate known for exorcisms, mass healing ceremonies and temporarily breaking with the church to marry a Korean acupuncturist, was excommunicated Tuesday by the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI signed off on the most serious punishment the Roman Catholic Church can mete out, in what is likely to be the final chapter in Milingo's bizarre, tumultuous story spanning more than two decades.

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, a provocative African prelate known for exorcisms, mass healing ceremonies and temporarily breaking with the church to marry a Korean acupuncturist, was excommunicated Tuesday by the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI signed off on the most serious punishment the Roman Catholic Church can mete out, in what is likely to be the final chapter in Milingo's bizarre, tumultuous story spanning more than two decades.

A Roman Catholic archbishop who says God wants him and the Catholic Church to shed the celibacy rule married a physician in a group wedding conducted by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, 71, wed Marie Sung, 43, a physician from South Korea, said a spokesman for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, the central group in Moon's movement. Milingo has long been at odds with the Catholic hierarchy, although he remains based in Rome and still carries his title.

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the African prelate who wed a member of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church but soon repented and returned to the fold, has said that he may have been brainwashed. "Perhaps I was the object of a kind of brainwashing," the 72-year-old Milingo said in a series of interviews on his 95-day flirtation with the Moonies.

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the African prelate who wed a member of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church but soon repented and returned to the fold, has said that he may have been brainwashed. "Perhaps I was the object of a kind of brainwashing," the 72-year-old Milingo said in a series of interviews on his 95-day flirtation with the Moonies.

A Zambian archbishop whose marriage scandalized the Vatican is leaving his wife and returning to the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican said Tuesday, quoting the archbishop as having told the pope, "I am your humble and obedient servant." Ignoring his celibacy vow, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo was married in a mass ceremony conducted by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon on May 27 in New York. The Vatican said Milingo is also breaking his ties to Moon.

The renegade Roman Catholic archbishop who was excommunicated by the Vatican after he installed married priests as bishops acknowledged that the Rev. Sun Myung Moon was supporting his crusade against mandatory celibacy. At a weekend conference in Parsippany of married priests, Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo distributed a statement headlined "Thanks," crediting the Korean evangelist.

Thousands of chanting, dancing Zambians welcomed home today the former Roman Catholic archbishop of Lusaka, stripped of his post by the Vatican three years ago because of faith-healing sessions that critics labeled voodooism. The Most Rev. Emmanuel Milingo, 56, was on his second private visit to Zambia since being recalled to Rome in 1982.

The wife of an archbishop whose marriage scandalized the Vatican pleaded tearfully to be allowed to see her husband and threatened to go on a hunger strike if church officials denied her request. In Rome, Maria Sung suggested that the church was holding her husband, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, against his will after he met with the pope and Vatican officials in an effort to open a dialogue and avert his excommunication.

Ending a saga that had embarrassed the Vatican and captivated Italy, the wife of a Roman Catholic archbishop said Wednesday that she would accept his decision to leave her and return to the church. "For the great love for my husband, I'll respect his decision" to leave me, Maria Sung told reporters after meeting with Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo for the first time in three weeks. "But that doesn't change the feeling I have for him in my heart."

A Zambian archbishop whose marriage scandalized the Vatican is leaving his wife and returning to the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican said Tuesday, quoting the archbishop as having told the pope, "I am your humble and obedient servant." Ignoring his celibacy vow, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo was married in a mass ceremony conducted by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon on May 27 in New York. The Vatican said Milingo is also breaking his ties to Moon.

A Roman Catholic archbishop who says God wants him and the Catholic Church to shed the celibacy rule married a physician in a group wedding conducted by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, 71, wed Marie Sung, 43, a physician from South Korea, said a spokesman for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, the central group in Moon's movement. Milingo has long been at odds with the Catholic hierarchy, although he remains based in Rome and still carries his title.

African Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, former head of the Roman Catholic Church in Zambia, is drawing congregations of 3,000 to 4,000 people--predominantly southern Italians--at his monthly faith-healing services in a Rome suburb. During the three years Milingo has lived in Rome, first in virtual enforced exile and then as an official member of the Vatican Curia, he has attracted an increasing number of followers.