SEOUL (UCAN): The Standing Committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, which met in Seoul on 10 February, asked the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences [FABC] to warn Catholics that the Marian shrine in Naju, in the Archdiocese of Gwangju, operates without the Church’s approval.
Earlier, on January 12, the conference’s secretary general, Father Lee Cheol-su, issued a pastoral letter reiterating that the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith had issued several notices urging people not to be swayed by those promoting devotion to the Naju shrine.
In their circular, the Korean bishops also reminded the Archdiocese of Gwangju to issue notices prohibiting devotion to the shrine and the distribution of all promotional materials related to it.
The circular alleged that Julia Yoon [Julia Kim] and her followers not only openly defied the Magisterium but also misled many by falsely claiming the shrine would soon receive the Church’s approval.
The shrine in southwest South Korea claims to attract ‘tens of thousands’ of Catholics from across Korea and various parts of Asia, despite Church leaders publicising its functioning without hierarchical approval.
The Korean bishops’ latest decision followed media reports that Yoon [Kim], who founded the shrine, and her followers continue to hold Masses, liturgies, and gatherings in private locations to encourage public devotion to Mary.
In 2024, the Archdiocese of Gwangju warned the faithful about Alexander Kim Dae-sik, a priest expelled from the Salesian congregation in 2022, who reportedly continued to celebrate sacraments illicitly at the Naju centre.
Julia Kim, 79, a Protestant-turned-Catholic mother of four, founded the shrine in the late 1980s after claiming to have experienced Marian apparitions.
On 30 June 1985, she claimed that her statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary began shedding tears. She also claimed to have been miraculously cured of terminal cancer. Her claims attracted Catholics, prompting Church officials to investigate.
The circular alleged that Julia Yoon [Julia Kim] and her followers not only openly defied the Magisterium but also misled many by falsely claiming the shrine would soon receive the Church’s approval
In 1998, then-Archbishop Victorinus Youn Kong-hi declared that the reported events were “not of supernatural origin”.
In 2008, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith [then the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith] upheld the measures taken by the archbishop of Gwangju as the official Church position, reaffirming this in 2011.
Archbishop Simon Poh of Kuching, Malaysia, warned Catholics not to visit the controversial, unapproved Naju Marian shrine following a similar warning from the Archdiocese of Singapore, which threatened excommunication for those participating in pilgrimages to the site, according to a 4 November 2025 report in the official publication, Today’s Catholic [Sunday Examiner, 16 November 2025].
On 31 October 2025, 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 [latae sententiae].
