Reuters) - Sun Myung Moon, a self-declared messiah and founder of the Unification Church, died aged 92 on Monday leaving millions of followers and a South Korean-based global empire of religious and business interests.
Moon believed he was chosen by Jesus Christ to continue the work of establishing an ideal world of peace and harmony. From 1961 until recently, he oversaw mass weddings at which thousands were matched with spouses they sometimes had just met and who, in some cases, did not even speak the same language.
But critics vilified his ministry as a heretical, and dangerous cult, and questioned its murky finances and how it indoctrinates its followers, often derided as "Moonies."
Though its following has fallen in recent years, at its peak in the early 1990s it was believed to have as many as 7 million adherents in 180 nations.
Moon died of complications from pneumonia at a church retreat east of the South Korean capital Seoul where he was moved last week after being hospitalized in mid-August, church officials said.
Though a strident anti-communist, he visited North Korea....
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-- During times of Universal Deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act Durante épocas de Engaño Universal, decir la verdad se convierte en un Acto Revolucionario - George Orwell