Vatican Excommunicates Married Archbishop, page 1

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, who defied the Pope by getting married in 2001, and has recently installed four married bishops, was automatically excommunicated by the Vatican Tuesday. Milingo has a strong following based on his reputation as an exorcist and healer.

www.nctimes.com
The defiant ordination of the men appeared to be the last straw for Rome.

Milingo ordained the Rev. George Augustus Stallings, Jr., of Washington, Peter Paul Brennan, of New York, Patrick Trujillo, of Newark, N.J., and Joseph Gouthro, of Las Vegas, Sunday at a Capital Hill Church.

Prelates "at various levels of the church tried in vain to contact Archbishop Milingo, to dissuade him from going ahead with scandal-provoking actions, above all among the faithful who followed his pastoral ministry in favor of the poor and sick," the Vatican said.

Considering that the pope had, "even recently, shown him understanding, the Holy See waited with vigilant patience to watch the evolution of the events which, unfortunately, led Archbishop Milingo to be in a condition of irregularity and of progressive, open break with communion with the Church, first by being married and then with the ordination of four bishops," it said.

An analyst of the Vatican's moves, the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Washington-based Jesuit, said he believed the Vatican was afraid that Milingo's actions could "create a schism" that could continue for a long time as renegade bishops ordained new ones.

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Looks like the latest challenge to the Catholic Church's worldwide hegemony, coming on the heels of the pedophilic abuse scandals, will be the ordination of married clergy.

This may be the biggest challenge to doctrine the Church has ever faced.

[edit on 27-9-2006 by Icarus Rising]