Archbishop’s vow to oppose celibacy rocks Vatican

THE Vatican yesterday expressed deep concern over a possible new scandal set off by an African archbishop who announced he was championing the cause of married priests in the Roman Catholic Church.

A day after Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, who had previously faced a threat of excommunication, showed up at a news conference to announce his new mission, the Vatican said it was still seeking precise information.

But it also said that if the statements attributed to him about priestly celibacy were true “there would be no choice but to condemn them” given the well-known church rules.

Archbishop Milingo shocked the church five years ago when he and a South Korean acupuncturist Maria Sung, were united in a mass wedding presided over by the Rev Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church.

He later renounced his marriage and returned to the fold, with the Vatican dropping the excommunication threat.

The late Pope John Paul II personally intervened to persuade Archbishop Milingo to leave the marriage.

At the news conference in Washington, DC, the Zambian archbishop said his new goal is to end the church’s celibacy rule.

“I feel it is time for the church to reconcile with married priests,” Archbishop Milingo said.

He appealed to priests punished for marrying to “come out of their Catholic prisons and be reinstated.”

The prelate credited with bringing Archbishop Milingo back to the fold, now Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, was chief assistant to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the Vatican. Ratzinger is now Pope Benedict XVI and he recently appointed Cardinal Bertone as secretary of state — the Vatican’s No 2 job.

Archbishop Milingo, 76, appears now to be back with his wife, although he said, “This is irrelevant.”

Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl said Archbishop Milingo’s announcement of a campaign to end celibacy “comes as a surprise and is also a disappointment” because he had reconciled with John Paul.

“His appearance in Washington has once again placed himself in opposition to the practice and teaching of the church on the matter of priestly celibacy,” Archbishop Wuerl said in a statement.