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August 24, 2001
More about the Zambian archbishop who got married by Moon.
Two American ministers on Tuesday joined an effort to arrange a meeting between Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and the South Korean wife the Vatican
The Revs. T. L. Barrett of the Life Center Church of God in Christ in Chicago, Ill., and Hycel Taylor of the Second Baptist Church in Evanston, Ill., said they have asked for an audience with the pope.
The two Protestant ministers hope to persuade him to allow a meeting between Milingo, 71, and Maria Sung, 43, the woman he married May 27 in a group wedding conducted by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
"We will go as neutral and objective friends of Christendom to request his Holiness, Pope John Paul II, to allow Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo to personally and privately express his true intentions to his wife and to the world," Taylor said at a news conference Tuesday.
Barrett said he and Taylor also want to ensure that ``this black man who is unique in the Catholic Church is receiving the justice that is due and is treated fairly.
Milingo, who is from Zambia, had already been out of favor at the Vatican because of his earlier faith healings and exorcisms. After the wedding, the Vatican threatened him with excommunication.
Sung, an acupuncturist, says she hasn't met with her husband since Aug. 6, the day before his audience with the pope.
The Vatican, which later suspended its excommunication threat, has not disclosed the archbishop's whereabouts. It said only that he had decided to return to the church, was on a spiritual retreat and should be left alone to pray.
Milingo and Sung were married at a May 27 group wedding in New York.
Their case has also attracted the efforts of the South Korean government. The South Korean ambassador to the Holy See has been meeting with Vatican officials for days, trying to set up a meeting between Milingo and Sung.
On Tuesday, the ambassador, Yang Il-Bae, met again with Sung, after a first meeting held Saturday.
The Rev. Philip Schanker, an official of Moon's church who is acting as Sung's spokesman, refused to discuss details of the meeting, which lasted about 40 minutes and occurred at Sung's Rome hotel room.
But he said: "We are very hopeful. I can happily say discussions have resumed."
"We felt the concern of the Holy Father and the Catholic Church," Schanker added.
The ambassador had previously offered a meeting between delegations representing both spouses. Schanker said Sung rejected the offer, insisting on a face-to-face meeting with her husband.
Sung began her hunger strike on Aug. 14.