VATICAN CITY: The Vatican yesterday released what it said was the signed, handwritten letter of a married archbishop which said he was leaving his wife and returning to the Catholic church, in an attempt to refute allegations he was being held against his will.
Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo's wife, Maria Sung, said the Vatican had either fabricated the letter or pressured Archbishop Milingo to write it.
Archbishop Milingo met Pope John Paul II last Tuesday to explain his reasons for getting married. Ms Sung said she had not heard from him since last Wednesday, and said she feared the Vatican was holding him as a prisoner against his will.
She said she planned to file a complaint with Italian police, probably a missing persons' report. The single-page letter, written in Italian, was signed ``Milingo'' and corresponded to the typewritten transcript released a day earlier by the Vatican.
In it, Archbishop Milingo said he had decided to recommit his life ``in the Catholic church with all my heart, renounce my living together with Maria Sung and my relationship with the Reverend [Sun Myung] Moon and the Family Federation for World Peace''.
A spokesman for Reverend Moon's movement, the Reverend Phillip Schanker, said he was convinced Archbishop Milingo's letter had been written ``under duress''.
``We'll respect whatever he wants, but we're not convinced this is what he wants,'' Reverend Schanker said yesterday. ``Our request is one: Let him stand up in front of the world and talk to the world. All they want is to see him: That's all we'll be satisfied with.''
The handwriting appeared to be similar to a document written by Archbishop Milingo that was displayed earlier this week by a Moon spokesman.
Archbishop Milingo, 71, married Ms Sung, a 43-year-old South Korean doctor in one of Reverend Moon's mass weddings on May 27.
The Vatican has not disclosed Archbishop Milingo's whereabouts, saying only he is on a spiritual retreat and should be left alone to pray.
Ms Sung has been on hunger strike since Tuesday.