VATICAN CITY (CNS): The Vatican has suspended a threat to excommunicate Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo after he met with Pope John Paul II and a Vatican doctrinal official who had ordered him to leave his wife and the Rev Sun Myung Moon’s sect.
The Pope received Archb5ishop Milingo at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo on August 7, said Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, who is vice-director of the Vatican press office.
‘The meeting is the beginning of a dialogue that one hopes will be able to lead to positive developments,’ he said.
Fr Benedettini said the meeting effectively suspended the Vatican’s August 20 deadline for the archbishop’s excommunication.
Archbishop Milingo said the August 7 meeting had led him to a ‘period of reflection’ and ‘examination of conscience’, but that a final accord between him and the Vatican was yet to be worked out.
Any resolution would have to respect the ‘rights’ of his wife, Maria Sung, he said.
