Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo may have fallen for his future bride years before his rebellious marriage, when members of the Unification Church referred him to the Korean acupuncturist for treatment.
Maria Sung told The Post she administered acupuncture to the Zambian priest “two or three years ago” and “he was completely cured” of a partial paralysis that hindered his speech.
She denied the existence of anything but a doctor-patient relationship at the time.
“I had no idea, no feeling, no knowledge about him. He was one of the patients, like many others,” she insisted, speaking through a church-provided translator.
But the Rev. Levy Daugherty, a Unification Church vice president, told The Post that Sung told Milingo she had a “premonition” they’d wed after she learned the archbishop was considering taking a wife. Sung treated Milingo for “more than a year” and as recently as last year, said the Rev. Michael Jenkins, church president.
The church has claimed that Milingo, 71, and his bride, 43, were strangers matched by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon just days before they exchanged vows at a mass wedding ceremony on May 27.
A Unification spokesman denied orchestrating the match. Church critics say Moon set a love trap to draw Milingo into his fold and score the worldwide headlines the mar- riage has generated.
Steve Hassan, a former Unification Church leader and now a cult expert, said Moon “controls people through their spouses” and would want Milingo to marry a totally obedient and faithful follower.
Milingo remains in seclusion after leaving his wife. The Vatican has issued a statement purportedly written by the priest renouncing both Moon and his marriage to Sung.
Calling the statement “false,” Sung vowed to remain on a hunger strike until she can see him.
“I want my husband back,” she said.
THE MILINGOS
Are Emmanuel Milingo and Maria Sung legally married?
They exchanged vows May 27 in a mass ceremony conducted by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. But a search of city records failed to find any evidence that Moon is registered to perform weddings here.
When The Post contacted Sung yesterday, she refused to say whether she and the 71-year-old archbishop had obtained a marriage license.