Emmanuel Milingo
Encyclopedia
Emmanuel Milingo is a former Roman Catholic
archbishop
from Zambia
. In 1969, aged 39, Milingo was consecrated by Pope Paul VI
as Bishop of the Archdiocese of Lusaka.
In 1983 he stepped down from his position as Archbishop of Lusaka after criticism for exorcism
and faith healing practices unapproved by Church authorities.
In 2001, when Milingo was 71, he received a marriage blessing from Sun Myung Moon
, the leader of the Unification Church
, despite the prohibition on marriage for ordained
priests.
In July 2006, he established Married Priests Now, an advocacy organization to promote the acceptance of married priests in the Roman Catholic Church. On September 24, 2006 Milingo ordained four men as bishops without a papal mandate. The Holy See Press Office
announced in an unsigned statement two days later that Milingo had been automatically excommunicated
by that act. All four men were married at the time of their ordination.
On December 17, 2009, the Holy See Press Office announced that Milingo had been reduced to the lay state
, making him no longer a member of the Catholic clergy.
and attended the Kasina Seminary and Kachebere Seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1958. He was the parish priest in Chipata from 1963 to 1966 and founded the Zambia Helpers' Society during this time. He was the secretary of Mass Media at the Zambia Episcopal Conference from 1966 to 1969 and when he founded the Daughters of the Redeemer. Pope Paul VI consecrated him as bishop of the Archdiocese of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. He served there from 1969 to 1983.
in the Roman Catholic Church. As a consequence he was heard by Pope John Paul II and was given permission to continue his healing sessions in Italy where he became a celebrity and got the support of large groups of young people. He was also given a papal assignment to serve as Special Delegate to the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples.
In 1983, forbidden by Pope John Paul II to return to Zambia, he resigned as Archbishop of Lusaka.
, DOJS. These messages were a traditional call to conversion
and Eucharist
ic devotion, as well as expressing sadness over the current state of the Catholic priesthood. Although he did not hold office as a diocesan bishop at the time, his name appears on the book's purported imprimatur
with the date March 17, 1992.
In the late 1990s Milingo became well-known in traditionalist
and sedevacantist
circles for a speech he gave at the Our Lady of Fatima 2000 International Conference on World Peace, organized by Canadian priest Nicholas Gruner
and held November 18–23, 1996, in which he charged that high-ranking members of the Church hierarchy were "followers of Satan" or otherwise enabled evil:
Milingo claimed to cite papal statements to back up his charges: Paul VI said that the smoke of Satan had entered into the Vatican. He added that the Church tolerated homosexuality
and disregarded the obligation of clerical celibacy
: Secret affairs and marriages, illegitimate children, rampant homosexuality, pedophilia
and illicit sex have riddled the priesthood to the extent that the UN Commission on Human Rights has investigated the church for sexual abuse…".
n acupuncturist, married in a blessing ceremony
in New York
, presided over by Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han
, Moon's wife. In July 2001, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
, officially warned Milingo to separate from Sung and from contacts with the Unification Church. Milingo protested the order, saying,
In August 2001 Milingo met with Pope John Paul II
, who appealed to Milingo: "In the name of Jesus Christ, return to the Catholic Church." Milingo agreed to separate from Sung and went into seclusion. Sung went on a hunger strike and appeared outside of St. Peter's Basilica
to protest their separation.
In interviews on Italian television in 2002, he said that he had spent a year in penitential
prayer
and meditation
in Argentina
, at a Capuchin monastery
. In November 2003, he made a trip to Africa over the objections of the Catholic bishops there. In 2004 and 2005, he kept a low profile and media accounts suggested that he was living in or near Rome without any official assignment at the Vatican.
his "plans to embark on an independent charismatic ministry to reconcile married priests with the Catholic Faith" as an advocate of the removal of the rule of celibacy for Latin Rite priests in the Catholic Church; the group is called Married Priests Now!
. The sponsor of the press conference was MJT Television. Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, Jr., also an excommunicated priest, who had founded his own Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation
, spoke as well.
Stallings stated that "Archbishop Milingo is not seeking to defy or divide the (Roman Catholic) Church, but is acting out of deep love for the Church and concern for its future." Milingo also announced that he wants to bring the Unification Church of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon closer to the Vatican. He announced he wanted them to co-operate in bringing religion to the world. In August 2006 Archbishop Milingo rejoined his wife, Maria Sung, and they live together as a married couple. In January 2010 it was reported that 20 priests in Uganda
had formed a break-away Catholic sect
which accepts married priests. This was said to be inspired by Milingo and to have around 12,000 members.
four married men as bishops, each of whom were already ordained in the Old Catholic line of succession and serving as a bishop in their respective Independent Catholic churches.
One of the four was Stallings. The others were Archbishop Peter Paul Brennan
of the African Orthodox Church
and the Ecumenical Catholic Diocese of the Americas, who according to one website was first consecrated a bishop on June 10, 1978, and subsequently reconsecrated in October 1979 and twice more in March 1987; Archbishop Patrick E. Trujillo of the Old Catholic Church in America and Archbishop Joseph J. Gouthro of Las Vegas
, presiding bishop of the Catholic Apostolic Church International (CACI).
In December 2007 in Brazil, Milingo conferred episcopal ordination on Harold James Norwood.
excommunication in accordance with canon 1382 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law.
In October 2007, Milingo's Vatican passport was revoked, ending his status as a person with diplomatic protection from the Vatican City State.
On December 17, 2009, the Vatican Press Office in an unsigned statement announced that Milingo had been reduced to the lay state. The statement explained the effect of the action as "loss of the rights and duties attached to the clerical state, except for the obligation of celibacy; prohibition of the exercise of any ministry, except as provided for by Canon 976 of the Code of Canon Law in those cases involving danger of death; loss of all offices and functions and of all delegated power, as well as prohibition of the use of clerical attire. Consequently, the participation of the faithful in any future celebrations organized by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo is to be considered unlawful."
Regarding the men ordained as bishops by Milingo, the Vatican Press Office reiterated also a 2006 unsigned statement that the Church "does not recognize and does not intend to recognize in the future such ordinations or any ordinations derived from them, and therefore the canonical state of the alleged bishops remains the one they were in before the ordination conferred by the aforementioned Archbishop Milingo." This denial of canonical status simply means that he has no authority to exercise any ministry.
However, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini of the Holy See Press Office, who was responsible for publicly issuing, during the press conference, the communique on Milingo, stated to reporters that any ordinations the excommunicated Milingo had performed prior to his laicization were "illicit but valid", while any subsequent ordinations would be invalid.
On June 11, 2011, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts issued a statement about illicitly ordained bishops, pointing out the canons which provide for an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication for both the ordaining bishop and those ordained. Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, Secretary of the Council, explained that the statement applied to the bishops ordained by Milingo as well as to more recent cases.
Also, in Massa
(Italy) on July 15, 2009, he consecrated Vitaliy Kuzhelnyi, a former priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
, as a bishop.
Animated cartoon:
Books:
Milingo has written numerous books about healing and exorcism. They contain details about "the world in between" human beings and the divine, a world of evil and of good spiritual beings.
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
from Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
. In 1969, aged 39, Milingo was consecrated by Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
as Bishop of the Archdiocese of Lusaka.
In 1983 he stepped down from his position as Archbishop of Lusaka after criticism for exorcism
Exorcism
Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...
and faith healing practices unapproved by Church authorities.
In 2001, when Milingo was 71, he received a marriage blessing from Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...
, the leader of the Unification Church
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
, despite the prohibition on marriage for ordained
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
priests.
In July 2006, he established Married Priests Now, an advocacy organization to promote the acceptance of married priests in the Roman Catholic Church. On September 24, 2006 Milingo ordained four men as bishops without a papal mandate. The Holy See Press Office
Holy See Press Office
The Holy See Press Office publishes the official news of the activities of the Pope and of the various departments of the Roman Curia. All speeches, messages, documents, as well as the statements issued by the Director, are published in their entirety....
announced in an unsigned statement two days later that Milingo had been automatically excommunicated
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
by that act. All four men were married at the time of their ordination.
On December 17, 2009, the Holy See Press Office announced that Milingo had been reduced to the lay state
Defrocking
To defrock, unfrock, or laicize ministers or priests is to remove their rights to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. This may be due to criminal convictions, disciplinary matters, or disagreements over doctrine or dogma...
, making him no longer a member of the Catholic clergy.
Education and ordination
Born in 1930 in Mnukwa (in present-day Zambia) to Yakobe Milingo and Tomaida Lumbiwe, he was educated in St Mary's Presbyterial School in ChipataChipata
Chipata, population 98,416, is the capital of the Eastern Province of Zambia. The two languages spoken are Nyanja and English, though you might find some Indian languages, as there is a large number of Zambian Indians located in the town...
and attended the Kasina Seminary and Kachebere Seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1958. He was the parish priest in Chipata from 1963 to 1966 and founded the Zambia Helpers' Society during this time. He was the secretary of Mass Media at the Zambia Episcopal Conference from 1966 to 1969 and when he founded the Daughters of the Redeemer. Pope Paul VI consecrated him as bishop of the Archdiocese of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. He served there from 1969 to 1983.
Investigation of healing ministry
In the 1970s Abp. Milingo conducted public religious services of healing and exorcism which attracted huge crowds. European clergy in Lusaka criticized him for using elements of traditional African religion in his healing sessions. Summoned to Rome for an investigation, he had the support of the charismatic movementCharismatic movement
The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt...
in the Roman Catholic Church. As a consequence he was heard by Pope John Paul II and was given permission to continue his healing sessions in Italy where he became a celebrity and got the support of large groups of young people. He was also given a papal assignment to serve as Special Delegate to the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples.
In 1983, forbidden by Pope John Paul II to return to Zambia, he resigned as Archbishop of Lusaka.
Criticism of the church
In 1992 Milingo endorsed the book On the Eucharist, a Divine Appeal, a collection of messages said to have been given by Jesus Christ in an apparition and written from September 8, 1987 to 1991 by Sr. Anna AliAnna Ali
Sister Anna Hadija Ali is a Kenyan Religious Sister of the Pious Union of the Daughters of Jesus the Good Shepherd. She is perhaps most notable for her claims of direct contact with a reformed Jesus Christ through personal visits between 1987 and 1991.-Biography:Anna Ali was born in 1966 to a...
, DOJS. These messages were a traditional call to conversion
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
and Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
ic devotion, as well as expressing sadness over the current state of the Catholic priesthood. Although he did not hold office as a diocesan bishop at the time, his name appears on the book's purported imprimatur
Imprimatur
An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...
with the date March 17, 1992.
In the late 1990s Milingo became well-known in traditionalist
Traditionalist Catholic
Traditionalist Catholics are Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of Catholic teachings which prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council...
and sedevacantist
Sedevacantism
Sedevacantism is the position held by a minority of Traditionalist Catholics who hold that the present occupant of the papal see is not truly Pope and that, for lack of a valid Pope, the see has been vacant since the death of either Pope Pius XII in 1958 or Pope John XXIII in 1963.Sedevacantists...
circles for a speech he gave at the Our Lady of Fatima 2000 International Conference on World Peace, organized by Canadian priest Nicholas Gruner
Nicholas Gruner
Nicholas Nightingale Gruner is a Roman Catholic priest and promoter of the message of Our Lady of Fatima, a manifestation of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal in 1917, particularly its anti-communist aspects during the Cold War...
and held November 18–23, 1996, in which he charged that high-ranking members of the Church hierarchy were "followers of Satan" or otherwise enabled evil:
- The devilDevilThe Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
in the Catholic Church is so protected now that he is like an animal protected by the government; put on a game preserve that outlaws anyone, especially hunters, from trying to capture or kill it. The devil within the Church today is actually protected by certain Church authorities from the official devil-hunter in the Church — the exorcist. … To the question, 'Are there men of the CuriaRoman CuriaThe Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
who are followers of Satan?' Milingo responded, 'Certainly there are priests and bishops. I stop at this level of ecclesiastical hierarchy because I am an archbishop, higher than this I cannot go.
Milingo claimed to cite papal statements to back up his charges: Paul VI said that the smoke of Satan had entered into the Vatican. He added that the Church tolerated homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and disregarded the obligation of clerical celibacy
Clerical celibacy
Clerical celibacy is the discipline by which some or all members of the clergy in certain religions are required to be unmarried. Since these religions consider deliberate sexual thoughts, feelings, and behavior outside of marriage to be sinful, clerical celibacy also requires abstension from these...
: Secret affairs and marriages, illegitimate children, rampant homosexuality, pedophilia
Pedophilia
As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...
and illicit sex have riddled the priesthood to the extent that the UN Commission on Human Rights has investigated the church for sexual abuse…".
Marriage
In May 2001 Milingo said that the Roman Catholic Church should provide priests dispensation from the obligation of celibacy and should readmit married priests to the priestly ministry. To "set an example", at the age of 71, he and Maria Sung, a 43-year-old KoreaKorea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
n acupuncturist, married in a blessing ceremony
Blessing Ceremony
The Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church is a wedding or marriage rededication ceremony sponsored by the Unification Church. It is given to married couples. Through it, members of the Unification Church believe, the couple is removed from the lineage of sinful humanity and engrafted into...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, presided over by Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han
Hak Ja Han
Hak Ja Han or Hakja Han Moon is an influential member of the Unification Church and the wife of the church's founder, Sun Myung Moon. They married in April 1960 and have 13 children and 20 grandchildren...
, Moon's wife. In July 2001, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...
, officially warned Milingo to separate from Sung and from contacts with the Unification Church. Milingo protested the order, saying,
- "How can I now leave my wife? ... For 43 years as a celibate priest ... I only knew God as a male. Now, through my union with Maria, I have come to see the other side of God's heart, which is female."
In August 2001 Milingo met with Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, who appealed to Milingo: "In the name of Jesus Christ, return to the Catholic Church." Milingo agreed to separate from Sung and went into seclusion. Sung went on a hunger strike and appeared outside of St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
to protest their separation.
In interviews on Italian television in 2002, he said that he had spent a year in penitential
Penance
Penance is repentance of sins as well as the proper name of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Anglican Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. It also plays a part in non-sacramental confession among Lutherans and other Protestants...
prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
and meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, at a Capuchin monastery
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
. In November 2003, he made a trip to Africa over the objections of the Catholic bishops there. In 2004 and 2005, he kept a low profile and media accounts suggested that he was living in or near Rome without any official assignment at the Vatican.
Organization for married priests
On July 12, 2006, Milingo announced at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
his "plans to embark on an independent charismatic ministry to reconcile married priests with the Catholic Faith" as an advocate of the removal of the rule of celibacy for Latin Rite priests in the Catholic Church; the group is called Married Priests Now!
Married Priests Now!
Married Priests Now! is an advocacy group headed by Emmanuel Milingo, a former Roman Catholic bishop from Zambia. MPN is a liberal Catholic organization calling for relaxing the rules concerning marriage in the Latin Rite Catholic priesthood...
. The sponsor of the press conference was MJT Television. Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, Jr., also an excommunicated priest, who had founded his own Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation
Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation
The African-American Catholic Congregation and its Imani Temples is an African-centered Catholic expression of the Christian faith. It was founded in 1989 by the Reverend George Augustus Stallings, Jr., a former Catholic priest.-History:...
, spoke as well.
Stallings stated that "Archbishop Milingo is not seeking to defy or divide the (Roman Catholic) Church, but is acting out of deep love for the Church and concern for its future." Milingo also announced that he wants to bring the Unification Church of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon closer to the Vatican. He announced he wanted them to co-operate in bringing religion to the world. In August 2006 Archbishop Milingo rejoined his wife, Maria Sung, and they live together as a married couple. In January 2010 it was reported that 20 priests in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
had formed a break-away Catholic sect
Sect
A sect is a group with distinctive religious, political or philosophical beliefs. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and...
which accepts married priests. This was said to be inspired by Milingo and to have around 12,000 members.
First consecration of bishops
On September 24, 2006, Milingo consecratedConsecration
Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...
four married men as bishops, each of whom were already ordained in the Old Catholic line of succession and serving as a bishop in their respective Independent Catholic churches.
One of the four was Stallings. The others were Archbishop Peter Paul Brennan
Peter Paul Brennan
Peter Paul Brennan is the bishop of the Ecumenical Catholic Diocese of the Americas , a bishop of the African Orthodox Church, the Primate of the Order of Corporate Reunion, and the current President of Married Priests Now!...
of the African Orthodox Church
African Orthodox Church
The African Orthodox Church is a primarily African-American denomination founded in the United States in 1921. It has approximately 15 parishes and 5,000 members, down significantly from the time of its greatest strength....
and the Ecumenical Catholic Diocese of the Americas, who according to one website was first consecrated a bishop on June 10, 1978, and subsequently reconsecrated in October 1979 and twice more in March 1987; Archbishop Patrick E. Trujillo of the Old Catholic Church in America and Archbishop Joseph J. Gouthro of Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, presiding bishop of the Catholic Apostolic Church International (CACI).
In December 2007 in Brazil, Milingo conferred episcopal ordination on Harold James Norwood.
Excommunication and laicisation
Two days after the consecration of the four Americans as bishops, on September 26, 2006, the Holy See's press office announced in an unsigned statement that both Milingo and the four men involved in the episcopal consecration had automatically incurredLatae sententiae
Latæ sententiæ is a Latin term used in the canon law of the Catholic Church meaning literally "given sentence".Officially, a latae sententiae penalty follows automatically, by force of the law itself, when the law is contravened....
excommunication in accordance with canon 1382 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law.
In October 2007, Milingo's Vatican passport was revoked, ending his status as a person with diplomatic protection from the Vatican City State.
On December 17, 2009, the Vatican Press Office in an unsigned statement announced that Milingo had been reduced to the lay state. The statement explained the effect of the action as "loss of the rights and duties attached to the clerical state, except for the obligation of celibacy; prohibition of the exercise of any ministry, except as provided for by Canon 976 of the Code of Canon Law in those cases involving danger of death; loss of all offices and functions and of all delegated power, as well as prohibition of the use of clerical attire. Consequently, the participation of the faithful in any future celebrations organized by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo is to be considered unlawful."
Regarding the men ordained as bishops by Milingo, the Vatican Press Office reiterated also a 2006 unsigned statement that the Church "does not recognize and does not intend to recognize in the future such ordinations or any ordinations derived from them, and therefore the canonical state of the alleged bishops remains the one they were in before the ordination conferred by the aforementioned Archbishop Milingo." This denial of canonical status simply means that he has no authority to exercise any ministry.
However, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini of the Holy See Press Office, who was responsible for publicly issuing, during the press conference, the communique on Milingo, stated to reporters that any ordinations the excommunicated Milingo had performed prior to his laicization were "illicit but valid", while any subsequent ordinations would be invalid.
On June 11, 2011, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts issued a statement about illicitly ordained bishops, pointing out the canons which provide for an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication for both the ordaining bishop and those ordained. Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, Secretary of the Council, explained that the statement applied to the bishops ordained by Milingo as well as to more recent cases.
Further consecrations of bishops
In December 2007 in Brazil, Milingo conferred episcopal ordination on Harold J. Norwood.Also, in Massa
Massa
Massa is a town and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, the administrative centre of the province of Massa-Carrara. It is located in the Frigido River Valley, near the Alpi Apuane, some 5 kilometers from the Tyrrhenian Sea....
(Italy) on July 15, 2009, he consecrated Vitaliy Kuzhelnyi, a former priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , Ukrainska Hreko-Katolytska Tserkva), is the largest Eastern Rite Catholic sui juris particular church in full communion with the Holy See, and is directly subject to the Pope...
, as a bishop.
Split with US married bishops
In 2009, four bishops consecrated by Milingo withdrew from his organization, distanced themselves from him due to "philosophical and theological differences", and announced the start of a separate organization to promote the ordination of married men.Patriarch
In August 2010, Milingo was named Patriarch for Southern Africa of the Ecumenical Catholic Apostolic Church of Peace.Published works
Music albums:- Gubudu Gubudu (1995)
- Milingo Experience (2007)
Animated cartoon:
- Milingo the Spirit of Africa (1998), co-produced with the Italian cartoonist Mario Verger; music by Lucio DallaLucio DallaLucio Dalla is a popular Italian singer-songwriter and musician. He also plays clarinet and keyboards.He is the composer of Caruso , which has been covered by numerous international artists...
, arrangements by the singer Ron and Aldo Azzaro.
Books:
Milingo has written numerous books about healing and exorcism. They contain details about "the world in between" human beings and the divine, a world of evil and of good spiritual beings.
- The Flower Garden of Jesus the Redeemer
- Demarcations
- Precautions in the Ministry of Deliverance
- Make-Joni (1972), illustrated by Arnold Chimfwembe (Lusaka: Neczam)
- The World in Between: Christian Healing and the Struggle for Spiritual Survival (1984, London: Orbis Books),
- Le mie preghiere non sono ascoltate ("My prayers are not heard") (1987),
- Guaritore d'anime: la mia storia, la mia fede (with Renzo Allegri; Milan: Mondadori, 1997).
- Confessioni di uno scomunicato ("Confessions of an Excommunicated Catholic") (2008), an autobiography
Literature
- Gerrie ter Haar (International Institute of Social Studies): Spirit of Africa: The Healing Ministry of Archbishop Milingo of Zambia, London: Hurst, 1992; based on her 1991 Ph.D. thesis from Utrecht UniversityUtrecht UniversityUtrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
.
External links
- Interview with Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo (video, 2006)
- Interview with Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, Jr. speaking about Milingo (video)
- Milingo Accuses Catholics of Illicit Sex, Homosexuality - The Post (Lusaka), August 8, 2001
- Milingo in the Dictionary of African Christian Biography
- 2011 interview