"I am enjoying marriage life," reveals
excommunicated Roman Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo of southern
African country of Zambia.
In this exclusive, Milingo
has also disclosed how he sneaked from the Vatican where he was heavily
guarded to join his wife in Korea.
The
Zambian-born Catholic Archbishop then at the Vatican astonished the
world in 2005 at the age of 76 when he broke the celibacy law and
married a Korean woman, Dr. Maria Sung linked to Reverend Moon.
Our
correspondent caught up with Milingo at the House of the Unification
Church whose overseer is Reverend Moon, seven kilometres from the
capital’s central district where he resides with his wife when in
Zambia. It’s a complete home set up conducive for the couple.
“I
am so happy because I have found a way in which I can live a satisfying
and fulfilling life,” Archbishop Milingo explained in a two-hour
interview.
The Archbishop says he took a long time reflecting and thinking on the celibacy law.
“I
have been reading the history of the Catholic Church and see on how
they came to the conclusion to impose celibacy on the priests,” he says
“After this I found out that there is a lot of injustice that has been
committed by the Catholic Church by imposing the celibacy on the
priesthood.”
Marriage
Indeed
one would wonder why a man after seven decades will think of marrying.
The Pope then - John Paul II - was at pains to let Milingo go saying he
was too old to marry. This was after Archbishop Milingo was recalled to
the Vatican after his marriage ceremony in the United States.
But
the archbishop says marriage was more than what many people think about
it. He says he came to learn that he could still serve God as an
archbishop even though he was married.
“It’s define, marriage
is divine... it is not just a question of sexuality as the people do
that Milingo at 70 years and now at 80 what will sexuality mean to him
and so on?” Archbishop Milingo observes and adds, “But it’s above that
when God made that (marriage) he didn’t even mention sex. He (God) said
it’s not good for man to live alone let make him a partner. He didn’t
only see sex but there is a lot that he put in a woman, he has put in a
man and when put together there is a fulfilment of humanity.”
Archbishop
Milingo says by marrying he has learnt a lot and was slowly getting out
all the prejudice he had about women. This he says is very important to
his life. The Archbishop observes that priests normally look down upon
the women.
“I have found out that as you live with a woman you
really have to be serious about what she is thinking because she too has
experience in life,” says Archbishop Milingo who has now been married
for about five years. “The holes of pride have been cut away from me and
now I am sure I am going to Paradise.”
“I was recalled by the
Vatican because they thought that at my age to decide to marry was
almost like muddiness, something unheard of and consequently they didn’t
want me to continue with marriage,” he recounts when asked why he
decided to marry.
Age
The Archbishop
says he took up the matter with the late Pope John Paul II to give him
dispensation as he had done with other priests. But this was all in vain
as the Pope could not understand how at his age Archbishop Milingo
would think of marrying.
“The Pope told me that at my age,
marriage would not mean much and that I was a well vested member who had
contributed much to the church,” he recounts. But Archbishop Milingo
says he could still not change his position.
“I had been reading
for a long time about the law of celibacy and found that there is a lot
of injustice committed by the Catholic Church by imposing celibacy on
the priesthood or connecting priesthood with celibacy that I myself
don’t agree,” he says. “The way these priests have been treated they
have been rendered useless in the society and even a shame to their own
families. Some of them have been rejected by their own families. All
this is the consequence of celibacy.”
Narrating
his ordeal after he was recalled by the Pope at the Vatican, Milingo
recalled that the incidence was a sad one. “When I arrived in Rome,”
Archbishop Milingo continues, “It is a very sad story to tell because I
had come with my wife. They immediately separated us. They took my wife
wherever and hide her. She was hidden! And I myself was hidden in what
you call Rome rural area in a rural hotel where nobody could find me. I
was there watched, guarded to make sure I could not know where my wife
was.”
The Archbishop narrated that after sometime in that rural
hotel where he was heavily guarded he was taken back to Rome to catch a
plane to Argentina for his retreat. While in Rome as he was heading to
get a plane in an elevator he saw the wife.
“I just shook hands
with her and then I was taken to Argentina where I stayed for three
months,” he recalls. “Why was I sent there? They were convinced that I
had made a mistake, I had committed a great sin and therefore it was
time for me to pay for my crime so to say.”
Archbishop Milingo
says he was well received by the Church after he went back to the
Vatican though he was still being guarded. “But I was guarded by gun
wherever I went I had a body guard in the name of the Catholic Church to
watch on me in case somewhere I meet my wife and so on. They did that
for five years,” Archbishop Milingo narrated as the wife who sat nearby
listened attentively.
Tight security
The
Archbishop explains that he was convinced that he could no longer fit in
the society of celibacy and needed to find a way out. But then how was
he to do it since he was always watched on.
“I organized myself
and I did it wonderfully and it worked very beautiful not even my
congregation, the sisters workers of the redeemer whom I founded knew
how I went away. They never knew because I had some of my friends
outside who prepared my air ticket to go to Korea and from there they
came to pick me” he disclosed.
“I did this when my own sisters were
still washing plates after lunch. They were busy washing plates I
organized myself behind, took the car and took a plane, I went to
Korea.”
At this point of the interview, Archbishop Milingo became
joyful and he proudly stated nobody will ever know how he sneaked away
amid tight security to join his wife in Korea.
“Very clever, wonderful and nobody will ever guess that I could do that and successfully,” he emphasized very happily.
He said the Catholic Church will never know the person who whisked him from the Vatican.
“They
will never know who. This is the person who has no prestige or what. He
is a very simple soul,” narrated Archbishop Milingo.
Speaking
to the wife who up to date does not believe she has Archbishop Milingo
to herself, Maria a medical doctor by profession says she was so happy
that after a long struggle Milingo was finally her husband.
“I am
so happy and grateful to President (Levy) Mwanawasa (late) and the
people of Zambia for standing with me to fight to have Milingo,” Maria,
50, who is not able to speak fluent English said. “Finally, I have my
husband who stands with me even when I am not well. It feels so so
good!”
Archbishop Milingo was a big figure not only in Zambia
but the entire Roman Catholic Church. He made headlines across the
global when he broke the celibacy law and married.
In Zambia,
Milingo commanded a lot of influence and following in the 1980s through
his healing miracles. He was then transferred to the Vatican for fear
that he would form a break away Church in Zambia.
The
Archbishop says he was happy with his new life and he clams the
Catholics thought he would be depressed.
Currently he has no fixed
residence but he is in US, Italy but mainly in between the wife’s
country Korea and Zambia.
Though there seem to be no big impact in the
church in Zambia, Archbishop Milingo claims he has a following of over
200, 000 priests worldwide who have since married.
There has
been no mass exodus from the Catholic Church to join him yet. What is
clear now is that Archbishop Milingo is a happy married priest.