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| Archbishop and Mrs Milingo |
This blog is possibly the first time that the fascinating story of the African former Catholic archbishop and thaumaturge Emmanuel Milingo has been revealed in full. Famous for his spectacular services of exorcisms and healings in Africa, and later in Rome, he was born in 1930 and - amazingly, given his controversial and stormy life - is still alive. It is a story that made the headlines worldwide and could be the basis of a John Le Carré or Ian Fleming novel. But its most compelling - and so far little known -aspect is the role played by the Focolare movement.
In 2001, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church (better known as the ‘Moonies’), together with his wife Hak Ja Han Moon, conducted the marriage of Archbishop Milingo to Maria Sung ‘a 43-year-old matronly Korean acupuncturist’ (Milingo was 71 at the time). But then, after three months, heeding the call of Pope John Paul II, Milingo left the Moonies and returned to Rome. Here, the Vatican placed him secretly in the care of the Moonies' most suitable Catholic opponents, also esteemed by the Vatican as excellent jailers (according to Vaticanologist Sandro Magister, then working for L'Espresso ) and with James Bond-like secrecy skills.
Following the Pope's summons, for a year Milingo disappeared completely from public and media attention. His grand return to public life merited a most interesting article - Return of the Prodigal Son - in the independent English newspaper, The Guardian [1]. Milingo, The Guardian reports, along with representatives of the Vatican, appeared on RAI's Porta a Porta, interviewed by Bruno Vespa. But Milingo was not present in the studio. He spoke from ‘a secret location in the Roman hills’ - accompanied by ‘an ecclesiastical henchman’. According to The Guardian, 'Archbishop Milingo has just emerged from a year spent in penitential prayer and meditation in Argentina at a Capuchin monastery at a place called O'Higgins.' Along with the announcement of Milingo's return, the RAI program was also an opportunity to launch Milingo's new book, an interview with 'the Italian journalist, Michele Zanzucchi.'
Many details, but the essential one is missing. A secret place in the Roman hills? Centre of the focolarini. An ecclesiastical henchman? One, or a squad, of focolarini. O'Higgins? It may have been a Capuchin monastery long ago, but for decades it has been a Mariapolis of the Focolare movement. Now called Mariapolis Lia, it is surrounded by miles of open countryside in the middle of nowhere and therefore a perfect prison. Italian journalist Michele Zanzucchi? Born into a focolarino family and now a Focolare big shot. In short, behind the scenes, the whole story of Milingo's attempted conversion was orchestrated by focolarini - and, of course, as befits those masters of secrecy, all on the sly.
This is the whole truth. But the story fed to the media, as reported in The Guardian, was a version of the truth, but also - as it did not mention the perpetrators of these events - a pack of lies.
Unfortunately, despite this spectacular favor to Church and Pope by the focolarini, showcasing all their skills as prison guards, experts in undercover operations and public relations, in 2006 Milingo fled Italy and founded the group ‘Married Priests Now!’ After ordaining four married men as bishops, also in 2006 in America, he was excommunicated by the Vatican and in 2009 laicized.
Everyone who knows the Focolare movement from the inside knows it is a web of secrets, especially in its history. Milingo's secret is now revealed - thanks to those who can decipher it. But this begs the question: how many other astounding stories are there in Focolare history that outside the movement no one knows?
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/02/worlddispatch.italy
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