Through the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican recently published a document called “Mater Populi Fidelis,” or “Mother of the Faithful People of God,” which clarifies different titles for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Father Dave explains the purpose of this document, specifically in reference to the Vatican’s rejection of labeling Mary “co-redemptrix” or “co-mediatrix.”
Father Dave begins, “As we know, we have lots of titles for Mary; everything from ‘Mother of God’ to ‘Queen of the Universe’ to ‘Immaculate Blessed Virgin.’ Then, a lot of the apparitions have titles as well such as, ‘Our Lady of Guadalupe,’ or ‘Our Lady of Lourdes.’”
He notes how the titles “co-redemptrix” and “co-mediatrix” first started growing in popularity in the early 20th century, though they were never formally approved by the Church. “For ‘co-redemptrix,’ it’s kind of like saying ‘co-redeemer’ with Christ redeeming all of humanity, and that’s the problem, actually. The notion there is that Mary played such an essential role in her human, free-will offering up and saying yes to God. When the angel Gabriel said, this is what God intends for you, she says, ‘Let it be done unto me according to your will,” Father Dave says.
“The argument goes that Christ could not have been born as human and therefore redeemed all of humanity for all time had she not done that. Her key role in the salvation and redeeming of man is very substantial,” he continues. “Even those who would embrace the term ‘co-redemptrix,’ or female version of ‘co-redeemer,’ would say that it was a subordinate but essential role.”
Father Dave notes that, while he is not speaking on behalf of the Vatican, it was important to clarify these titles for Mary. “We know, with sophisticated theology, that of course we don’t believe that she’s equal to Jesus. But does this term mislead some people to think that? If the people are thinking, ‘Well, that’s like the co-producer in the credits of a film, or it could be the co-founder, like in an organization where people equally found it.’ The idea is — particularly when we’re talking about sensitive, important theological matters — we should be clear in titles that we use.”
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Next, he explains the title “co-mediatrix” and its issues in reference to Mary. “There is one mediator between God and man, because of the chasm that’s created by original sin. Initially in God’s design and in the creation of the world, humanity and God were all together. What separated us, what created this big gap between us and God is our own sin,” Father Dave says. “The only mediator between humanity and God is the one who was both. He is the only person in all of history to be 100% human and divine. Therefore Christ can be the only mediator.”
“Again, Mary played an important role in bringing about his human side, but she is not the ‘co-mediatrix,’ like a female mediator of all graces. In that case, you can probably see that that term is even a little more problematic,” Father Dave says. “The Church is saying, no, these terms are not going to be more officially and publicly used because of the potential for confusing people about what we really believe about Mary’s role relative to Christ, salvation and God’s grace.”
