KUCHING (UCAN): Archbishop Simon Poh of Kuching, Malaysia, warned Catholics not to visit the controversial, unapproved Naju Marian shrine in South Korea. His message follows a similar warning from the Archdiocese of Singapore, which threatened excommunication for those participating in pilgrimages to the site.
The Archdiocese of Gwangju prohibits Catholics from visiting the Naju Marian shrine, according to a November 4 report in the official publication, Today’s Catholic.
Archbishop Poh confirmed with former Gwangju Archbishop Hyginus Kim that the ban on visiting the shrine remains in effect. He urged Catholics to visit only officially recognised churches and pilgrimage sites.
His directive follows questions from Malaysian Catholics about pilgrimages to Naju, a site where alleged miracles have been reported for decades.
On October 31, the Archdiocese of Singapore issued a chancery notice warning that anyone participating in activities at the Naju centre—where an alleged visionary continues her ministry “against the guidelines of the local Ordinary in Korea”—would incur automatic excommunication.
The notice also urged those who had previously visited Naju to stop and to seek the sacrament of reconciliation from a priest so the excommunication could be lifted.
Located within the Archdiocese of Gwangju, the Naju shrine is associated with Julia Kim, a mother of four who claimed to receive Marian apparitions beginning in the 1980s.
A former Protestant, Kim reported visions of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary and said her statue of Mary began shedding tears on 30 June 1985. She also claimed to have been cured of terminal cancer.
As devotion to the site spread, Church authorities investigated. In 1998, then-Gwangju Archbishop Victorinus Youn Kong-hi declared the events were “not of supernatural origin.”
The Korean Catholic Bishops’ Conference has also officially rejected the alleged miracles at Naju.
In 2024, the Archdiocese of Gwangju warned about Alexander Kim Dae-sik, a priest expelled from the Salesian congregation in 2022, who allegedly continued to celebrate sacraments illicitly at Naju.
Despite repeated prohibitions, pilgrims from several Asian countries continue to visit Naju, drawn by reports of healing and mystical phenomena not recognised by the Catholic Church.
