Wife expects to meet archbishop soon

Supporters of Sung gather in front of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican

ROME, Italy -- A Roman Catholic archbishop who infuriated the Vatican by marrying, may hold a meeting soon with his wife.

A spokesman for the wife, Mari Sung, said she would meet her husband, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, as early as Friday.

However, The Associated Press reported on Friday that Sung, 43, had rejected Vatican conditions for a meeting with her husband.

The spokesman for Sung said negotiations with the church were continuing.

The 71-year-old Zambian prelate and Sung, a South Korean acupuncturist, were married in a group wedding in May by the Rev. Sung Myung Moon, leader of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

The Vatican immediately threatened to excommunicate Milingo but lifted the threat after he said he would leave Sung and return to the church.

Sung in St Peter's Square prays to be reunited with her husband

Milingo disappeared from public sight after a meeting with the Pope on August 8. The Vatican has not disclosed his whereabouts, saying only that he is on a spiritual retreat and that he should be left alone to pray.

The Vatican wants the meeting to take place at the South Korean embassy to the Holy See in the presence of an interpreter. The South Korean ambassador has been trying for days to arrange the meeting.

Sung has been on a hunger strike since August 14, demanding a private meeting with her husband.

Late on Thursday, she joined more than 100 people gathered in St. Peter's Square for a candlelit prayer vigil. Sung has returned to the square every morning at dawn to pray to be reunited with Milingo.

Late last week she ended speculation that she was pregnant.

She told a press conference on Friday: "I'm relieved by the fact that I do not have to care about a child, so I can focus with all my spirit and heart to find my husband."

Earlier this month, the Vatican released what it said was a handwritten, signed letter from Milingo in which he said he had decided to return to the church and leave his wife.