Church punishes married archbishop

The happy couple: Milingo and Sung

THE VATICAN (CNN) -- The Catholic Church has stripped an African archbishop of his position after he got married at the weekend.

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, 71, of Lusaka, broke 43 years of celibacy as a Catholic priest when he married 43-year-old South Korean acupuncturist Marie Sung in a group ceremony in the New York Hilton ballroom on Sunday.

The marriage was one of 60 inter-faith ceremonies led by the Moon cult leader, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, who had selected Milingo's wife. Additional sanctions by the Vatican are considered likely. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a written statement on Monday: "Obviously the Holy See has learned the news with sorrow of what he did.

"With his participation in the public wedding rite of the Moon cult, he has place himself outside the Catholic Church."

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Ex-communication from the Catholic Church was not addressed in the statement, but it did say Milingo can no longer be considered a bishop. "He has caused a deep rift in the communion that a bishop must have with the Church ... and the faithful are invited to learn from the consequences of his behaviour," Navarro-Valls added.

"This behaviour will be examined under the canon law and the results will be made public."

Milingo expected the strong reaction from the Vatican.

He said in a statement on Saturday: "Now at 71 years of age, after a lifetime of devotion to the Church and to my priestly vows, the Lord has called me to take a step that will change my life forever, which will enable me to be a vehicle of His grace and blessing to Africa and the world, but one which I expect will alter my relationship with the Roman Catholic Church as well."

He said the decision had been "unexpected and bold," Reuters added -- one which he had "wrestled in my heart for some time."

Milingo's wife was selected by Moon and approved by Milingo within the past two weeks, said Phillip Schanker, the spokesman for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, the central group within Moon's movement.

He added that Moon selected a Korean woman who is a member of his Unification Church because "the theme of this marriage was interreligious and interracial."

The bride was dressed in a traditional white gown and veil. Milingo wore a black tuxedo. Zambia's Roman Catholic bishops said they would meet in Lusaka on Tuesday to discuss what they see as a crisis, Reuters said.

"Bishops are shocked. It is stunning," a spokesman for the Episcopal Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops told Reuters.

Milingo has courted controversy in the past, taking part in ceremonies involving faith healers and exorcisms.

He was brought to Rome as a functionary in 1983, but last year retired quietly from the post.