THE HOLY FATHER SAYS TO HIS KEY CARDINAL IN THE VATICAN:  “I AM FAVORABLE ON NAJU”

About three weeks ago (a few days before Easter 2010), Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples at the Holy See, had an audience with the Holy Father to make another report on Naju including the recent visit by Julia Kim to the Vatican and the Eucharistic miracle that occurred during the visit.

From a highly reliable source in the Vatican, we have been informed that the Holy Father said to the Cardinal during this audience:  “I am favorable on Naju.”  That the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, is favorable on Naju has been known for quite some time.  So, some may ask, “What’s new about this remark?” 

The fact is that this remark or statement by the Holy Father is extremely important and significant for the official discernment and recognition of Naju.  Pope Benedict XVI has had a serious interest in the reported supernatural events in Naju ever since the time when he was the Prefect at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and John Paul II was the Pope.  After his accession to the Papacy in 2005, he has continued to receive reports on Naju.  Significantly, it was the first time that the Holy Father stated his position on Naju during an official meeting in the Vatican.  By making this statement, the Holy Father was making known to the Cardinal and the Church where he stands regarding Naju and in which direction he wants the Church to go from now regarding Naju, which may have the potential of making a strong impact on the renewing and strengthening of the Catholic Church worldwide in the years to come. 

Actually, the official recognition of Naju could have come much earlier, during the reign of Pope John Paul II.  The first time John Paul II was formally informed about Naju was in 1991, when Archbishop Victorinus Yoon of the Kwangju Archdiocese in Korea, to which the Naju Parish belongs, and other Korean Bishops were making their ad limina visit to the Vatican.  Archbishop Yoon said to the Pope, “In my diocese also, there is a statue of the Blessed Mother that weeps.”  The Holy Father answered, “In such a case, it is important to observe the fruits.”

Pope John Paul II received more detailed reports on Naju in 1995, soon after Archbishop Giovanni Bulaitis, the Apostolic Nuncio to Korea at that time, made a visit to Naju, witnessed two miraculous descents of the Eucharist in the Chapel there on November 24, 1994, and made reports to the Holy Father through the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.  We were informed later that the Holy Father had received the photographs of the weeping statue of the Blessed Mother in Naju along with other documentation and, especially, looked at the photograph of the Blessed Mother shedding tears of blood for about 40 minutes, with his two hands positioned in prayer. 

In 1996, the Korean Bishops came to Rome again on their ad limina visit.  The Holy Father told them, “Share this wonderful grace in Naju with others in Asia.”  It was a solemn and anxious request from the Pope to the Korean Bishops to conduct an objective investigation of what had happened in Naju and, based on the results, approve it without delay.  Unfortunately, the Korean Bishops did not do anything to comply with the Holy Father’s request after their return to Korea.

Five years later, in 2001, there was another ad limina visit by the Korean Bishops.  This time, the Holy Father seemed anxious and even somewhat irritated and asked the Korean Bishops during a lunch meeting with them:  “What has happened to Naju?”  He was asking if the Korean Bishops had done anything about Naju after he had made a request to them five years earlier.  None of the Bishops, including Archbishop Victorinus Yoon of Kwangju, said anything.  The Pope kept waiting, and a very uncomfortable silence continued for quite a while.  Finally, Bishop Paul Chang-Yeol Kim of the smallest diocese in Korea (the Cheju Diocese), who was sitting next to the Holy Father, volunteered that he would give the Holy Father a report after the lunch.  So, after the lunch, Bishop Kim met privately with the Holy Father for an hour and made a detailed report to him regarding the Church in Korea and Naju.  The Holy Father seemed very satisfied and embraced the Bishop.  He said that he would send instructions to the proper Congregation.  This was in early March in 2001.  Two months later, the photographs and explanations in Italian of the Eucharistic miracle through Julia on October 31, 1995 in the Pope’s private chapel were publicly displayed at St. Michael Church in the vicinity of St. Padre Pio’s shrine at San Giovanni Rotondo after the Holy See gave permission.  Simultaneously, a major Catholic TV station in Italy aired the scenes of the Eucharistic miracle of October 31, 1995 also with the Holy See’s permission.  These public displays were concrete signs that Pope John Paul II had officially recognized the Eucharistic miracle that he had personally witnessed.  It was also a powerful sign to the Korean Bishops not to ignore the events in Naju and to expedite the examination and approval.  Despite such strong moves by the Pope, the hierarchy in Korea did not do anything about Naju. 

Actually, the Kwangju Archdiocese had hurriedly formed an investigation committee in December 1994, right after Archbishop Giovanni Bulaitis had visited Naju in late November 1994.  Three years later, on January 1, 1998, the Kwangju Archdiocese announced a negative declaration on Naju saying that the phenomena of tears and tears of blood from the statue could have been caused by some preternatural power without any explanation or evidence.  It also said that the reported Eucharistic miracles were in conflict with the Church teaching that says that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is to be celebrated in the species of bread and wine.  But nobody was contesting that the proper forms of the Sacrament of the Eucharist were bread and wine.  The real issue was not how the Sacrament was to be celebrated but whether or not a special miraculous intervention by God occurred or not, and they did not do anything to answer this question.  The priests in Kwangju also said in the declaration that the claimed descents of the Eucharist from above violated the Church teaching that says that the Eucharist can only begin to exist through the consecration by the validly-ordained priests.  Here again, nobody is disputing that the validly-ordained priests only can perform the Eucharistic consecration.  No lay people or priests outside the Church have this power.  The Church teaching, however, does not say that the Eucharist can begin to exist only through the priests’ consecration, which would preclude the possibility of miracles.  This version of the Church teaching mentioned in the Kwangju declaration is different from what the authentic Church teaching really says.  The Church has never said that the Eucharist can begin existing only through the priests’ consecration, even though that is true in the normal situation without a miracle.  In Fatima and numerous other places, the Eucharist miraculously came down and was received by many Saints without directly mentioning that there was priests’ consecration.  Here again, the issue is not about how to administer the Sacrament, but where or not a special miraculous intervention by God has occurred or not.  As Jesus is divine and the Highest Priest, we cannot preclude the possibility of His miraculous coming to us in the form of the Eucharist, whenever He wishes to do so.  If the version of the Church teaching in the Kwangju declaration were correct, all the miraculous communions in Church history would have to be condemned. 

The next ad limina visit by the Korean Bishops occurred from the end of November to the beginning of December of 2007.  The Archbishop of Kwangju brought with him several copies of a video produced by a commercial TV company in Korea with the help of a priest of Kwangju who had been the leader of all the priests in Korea opposing Naju.  This video was full of fabrication of the facts and false accusations against Naju and Julia. The Holy See officials did not even pay attention to this video to a great disappointment of the Kwangju Archbishop and his priests at home.  Instead, Cardinal Ivan Dias asked the Archbishop of Kwangju and other Korean Bishops why they were not accepting Naju and urged them to do so.  The Archbishop of Kwangju and another Bishop also visited the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and were urged to accept Naju.  The Korean Bishops were greatly surprised and shaken by the intensity of the dissatisfaction that existed in the Holy See caused by the Korean Bishops’ failure or refusal to properly handle the Naju case.  After their return to Korea, Archbishop Choi of Kwangju even said to his priests, “The Holy See was like a public relations office for Naju.”

The opposing priests in Kwangju were greatly alarmed by the results of the Bishops’ trip to Rome and decided to take their final, most extreme measure by issuing a decree in the name of the Kwangju Archbishop on January 19, 2008.  This decree stated that anyone in the world who visits Naju would be subject to automatic excommunication.  It also expelled Fr. Aloysius Chang, a supporter of Naju, from the Archdiocese.  In late February 2008, the Korean Bishops’ Conference was about to announce its support of the decree of Kwangju, but Cardinal Dias sent them an urgent cable to stop this attempt.  This decree clearly represented the Korean Church’s adamant and brazen defiance and disobedience to the Holy See which had strongly urged the Korean Bishops to accept Naju during their ad limina visit in late 2007.  It also was a grave violation of the Church Laws, because it punished the pilgrims and Fr. Chang who had not committed any crime to deserve the excommunication and also because it extended the punishment of excommunication to the whole world where the authority of the Korean Bishops does not reach.  Asked if even the Bishops from other countries and even from the Vatican would be excommunicated if they visited Naju, one of the opposing priests in the Kwangju Archdiocese unhesitatingly said (April 23, 2010), “Yes, they will be excommunicated according to the decree of Kwangju.”

In April 2008, Cardinal Ivan Dias wrote to the Archbishop of Kwangju saying, “As the events in Naju are considered private revelations, the penalties mentioned in your Decree cannot be applied to those who visit Naju.  The penalties on Fr. Aloysius Chang should also be lifted.  Fr. Chang can continue celebrating Mass.”  The Kwangju Archdiocese has never made public this letter.  Too frequently, instructions from the Holy See are blocked by the priests especially in Kwangju, Korea.  The faithful remain in darkness and retain unnecessary fear. 

On November 24, 2009, while Julia was speaking to the people in the vinyl chapel in Naju at an overnight prayer meeting, she suddenly lost consciousness and fell.  Then, she received a brief message from the Blessed Mother: “Go and see Giovanni Bulaitis.”  The Blessed Mother did not mention “Archbishop”, probably because she considered him one of her dearest sons.  Julia began preparing for the trip not knowing why she was told to meet Archbishop Bulaitis and what she was to do during the visit.  She would only obey the Blessed Mother’s request and go to Rome without any specific agenda in mind.  At first, she was about to go to Rome in early February 2010, but, because the Holy See would be in a retreat at that time, she left for Rome on February 26, 2010, accompanied by Fr. Aloysius Chang and five lay people including two interpreters.  They stayed at a hotel run by the Carmelite Order near St. Peter’s Basilica.  Julia and her companions were warmly received by Archbishop Bulaitis and the Sisters at a residence belonging to the Holy See, located next to St. Peter’s Square.  Archbishop Bulaitis invited them to the Sunday Mass on February 28.  To everyone’s surprise, the Eucharist received by Julia turned into visible flesh and blood on her tongue, becoming larger and beating like a living heart.  The Eucharist that she received was small, but gradually became larger and thicker than her own tongue.  Julia wished this Eucharist to be preserved, but the Archbishop instructed her to swallow the Eucharist and she promptly obeyed. 

Archbishop Bulaitis, the Sisters, and Julia’s companions all signed a written testimony.  The Archbishop said that, because this miracle occurred in a chapel inside the Vatican, the Korean Bishops could not interfere with the discernment by the Holy See.  Julia also bled repeatedly from her head miraculously wounded by the (invisible) Crown of Thorns.  In her message, the Blessed Mother told Julia that this Eucharistic miracle would be the last of 33 Eucharistic miracles through her or in Naju.  So, there will be no more Eucharistic miracles.  The Blessed Mother also said that Archbishop Bulaitis was to play the role of Omega for Naju, meaning that the official recognition of Naju would be accomplished through the work by Archbishop Bulaitis.  He has already done so much for this purpose and will continue to do so. 

On March 3, Julia met Cardinal Ivan Dias at his official residence, accompanied by Archbishop Bulaitis and a Korean Sister working in the Vatican and fluent in Italian and Korean.  Cardinal Dias was enormously joyful to see Julia twenty years after he had last seen her in Korea.  He comforted Julia by telling her not to worry about the official recognition.  He said that the recognition would come just as Julia had been completely healed from her cancer before her conversion to the Catholic Faith thirty years ago.  He also gave her three handkerchiefs embroidered with his name to use when she bleeds again.  The Cardinal saw that Julia was bleeding from her head and suffering enormously. 

Fr. Chang and Julia also delivered to Archbishop Bulaitis a small monstrance containing a Eucharist that had bled in a ciborium in Naju on October 16, 2006.  On that day, Our Lord told Julia to present this Eucharist to the Pope.  Archbishop Bulaitis handed this Eucharist to Cardinal Dias, and the Cardinal delivered it to the Holy Father.  The Holy Father received the Eucharist and asked his staff to preserve it with utmost care and devotion.  It is a special comfort to Julia and others in Naju to know that the Holy Father is now always with this Eucharist that bled in Naju.

The volunteer helpers in Naju publicized the news about Julia’s trip to Rome from April 3, 2010, Holy Saturday, when thousands of pilgrims gathered in the vinyl chapel on the Blessed Mother’s Mountain in Naju.  People heard the news, saw the DVD, and were enormously comforted and encouraged.  Many were weeping for joy.  They are courageously spreading the DVD and printed matter all over Korea.  The volunteer helpers in Naju are sending materials to the priests and lay people in many other countries.  We are happy to hear that many of the priests and lay people, who received this information, are correcting their previously negative perception of Naju. 

At the same time, the core opponents of Naju, mostly the liberal priests in Korea, are greatly alarmed and are trying fiercely to stop the spread of the information.  Many of these priests are into the so-called Liberation Theology, which started in Latin America but has been rejected by the Holy See and all those who are faithful to the teachings of Our Lord.  These priests loudly advocate political and social justice, but are disobedient to their Bishops and even to the Holy See.  They despise the supernatural nature of the Catholic Faith and ignore all the Ecumenical Councils prior to Vatican II.  They even distort the noble teachings of the Second Vatican Council to justify their heretical stance.  Unfortunately for the Church in Korea, these priests are in the key positions in almost all dioceses in Korea at this time.  Many times, it appears that their power exceeds that of the Bishop.  They are the key forces that are trying to destroy Naju and harm the Church.  Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984 and 1989, but, since then, there has not been any Papal visit to Korea.  The defiance by many of the Korean priests and the inability of the Korean Bishops to effectively control them undoubtedly has been a major reason why there has not been any Papal visit to Korea for the past 21 years.  When the Naju problem is resolved and the official recognition of Naju is announced, the road will again be clear for the Holy Father to visit the new shrine in Naju as an example for millions to follow.  Benedict XVI already made clear to his key Cardinal where he stands regarding Naju.  We encourage and ask everyone all over the world who loves Our Lord and Our Lady and wishes the Church to become more vibrant in evangelizing and sanctifying the world to pray hard so that the Blessed Mother, who has received the power to crush the head of Satan, may repel the spirit of errors, defiance, and hatred from the hearts of everyone and accomplish the triumph of her Immaculate Heart for the spiritual benefit of all the people in the world.

Benedict Sang M. Lee
Mary’s Touch By Mail (U. S. A.)
April 26, 2010