National Catholic Register, Dec 8, 2025 / 16:58 pm
One of the Catholic Church’s foremost associations of Mariologists has issued a strongly critical response to Mater Populi Fidelis, a recently published Vatican doctrinal note that has been criticized for its diminution of some long-established devotional Marian titles.
In a 23-page document published Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the International Marian Association Theological Commission (IMATC) points to various elements of Mater Populi Fidelis (“The Mother of the Faithful People of God”) that it calls erroneous, “unfortunate,” and says are in need of “substantial clarification and modification.”
They describe a significant element of the document as resembling Protestant rather than Catholic theology and urge, “in a spirit of true synodal dialogue,” for Mater Populi Fidelis to be reevaluated.
Published on Nov. 4 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Mater Populi Fidelis teaches that Mary’s unique cooperation in salvation must always be understood as entirely dependent on, and subordinate to, Christ’s one mediation and universal redemptive sacrifice, rejecting any formulations that would blur this asymmetry.
The doctrinal note reaffirms approved Marian titles such as Mother of God and Mother of the Church but judges the titles “Co‑Redemptrix” and certain uses of “Mediatrix of All Graces” pastorally and theologically ambiguous, discouraging their use in official teaching or liturgy, while not denying the truths they seek to express.
In Catholic theology, the title “Co‑Redemptrix” expresses Mary’s unique and entirely subordinate cooperation in Christ’s one redemptive work, above all through her fiat at the Incarnation and her union with his sacrifice, without adding a second redeemer alongside him. The title “Mediatrix of All Graces” signifies that every grace won by Christ the sole mediator is distributed by God through Mary’s maternal intercession, so that she participates as a secondary, dependent channel in the communication of Christ’s grace to humanity.
The 2010 edition of the New Catholic Encyclopedia states that the title Co-Redemptrix first appeared in Catholic literature toward the end of the 14th century and that “Catholics no longer question its legitimacy” as the title has been used at various times in the intervening centuries, including by the Holy See in the 20th century. The encyclopedia says the genesis of the title Mediatrix of All Graces is “rather obscure” but dates back to eighth-century saints and “was applied to Our Lady with ever-increasing frequency until it became generally accepted in the 17th century.”
The DDF’s diminution of the titles has drawn considerable criticism from Mariologists concerned that it adopts a minimalist view of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in salvation. The concern is that it could lessen popular devotion to her and risks ending new Marian dogmas related to these titles after decades of Mariological work. Still, others have praised it as a clarifying and ecumenically unifying move, re-centering Marian language clearly on Christ and discouraging titles they believe can be easily misunderstood.
The International Marian Association comprises theologians, bishops, clergy, religious, and lay leaders who seek to promote full Marian truth and devotion throughout the world.
The association’s theological commission comprises cardinals, bishops, and over 40 internationally respected theologians and Mariologists such as U.S. scholars Scott Hahn, Mark Miravalle, and Michael Sirilla.
It begins by praising some of the positive aspects of the DDF document. They like its strong emphasis in affirming Christ as the sole divine redeemer, important scriptural references to Mary’s cooperation in salvation history, and that it “affirms in general the cooperation of the faithful in the saving work of Christ,” and refers to “the singular and distinct cooperation of Mary.”
But the authors, recalling their canonical right to express their concerns to pastors, soon list a plethora of criticisms, noting from the outset that although an expression of the ordinary magisterium, the doctrinal note is on a “lower level” than direct pronouncements from the pope.
Co-Redemptrix title
On the title Co-Redemptrix, the theologians push back against the note’s warning that it is “always inappropriate” — or, according to some translations, “always inopportune” — to use the title to define Mary’s cooperation. The DDF note says that the title “risks obscuring Christ’s unique salvific mediation” and can therefore cause confusion.
The IMATC counters that statement stating that if the title Co-Redemptrix is always inappropriate or inopportune to use, “then the popes who approved or used the title were acting in an inappropriate and imprudent manner.” They add: “If it is always inappropriate to use the title, then the saints and mystics who used this title were irresponsible and inappropriate.”
The theologians welcome a later clarification from DDF prefect Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández who told the journalist Diane Montagna on Nov. 25 that the title Co-Redemptrix is, “from now on,” “always inappropriate” to use in “official documents of the magisterium,” but it can still be used in discussions, prayer groups, and private devotion.
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But the IMATC says the document still has a “substantial omission of the redemptive value of Mary’s unique active cooperation in objective redemption, as well as what we see to be an unnecessary prohibition of the legitimate Co-Redemptrix title from future official documents of the Holy See and from liturgical texts.” The move, they say, represents “an anti-development of doctrine.”
The theologians dismiss various other claims in the DDF note, including its argument that the Marian titles are best not used as they are “unhelpful” as they require “repeated explanations.” Many theological terms require perennial explanation, counters the commission, and cite as examples the title “Mother of God,” the Holy Trinity, transubstantiation, and papal infallibility.
They note how, despite ruling not to use the term Co-Redemptrix, the DDF acknowledges the title has been used for centuries, and stress that Co-Redemptrix had been preferred instead of Redemptrix precisely to emphasize Mary’s subordination and dependency on Christ, the Redeemer.
The theologians cite how often popes have used the title and state that it is “unfortunate” these examples “are not given greater respect or presence in the actual text.” They also recall previous warnings against the contents of the DDF note, quoting Father Rene Laurentin, regarded as “one of the world’s foremost students” of Mariology, who wrote in 1951 it would be “gravely temerarious to attack the legitimacy” of the title Co-Redemptrix, and another respected Mariologist, Jesuit Father J.A. De Aldama, who wrote in 1950 that it is “not permitted to doubt its appropriateness.”
Citing prominent theologians of the past, they dispute the DDF’s claim that the Second Vatican Council refrained from using the title, calling the claim “not entirely accurate,” as Lumen Gentium, especially No. 58, “explicitly affirms the doctrine of Mary as Co-Redemptrix without using the term.”
They also stress that previous popes, such as Pius XI, Pius XII, and John Paul II, have explained the meaning of the title and taught that Mary is the “new Eve.” The DDF document, they conclude, “is not merely discouraging the Co-Redemptrix title; it is also failing to teach in a positive way Mary’s truly redemptive role with and under Jesus in redemption as put forth by the papal magisterium.”
They further contend that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s negative response in 1996 to a dogmatic definition of Mary as Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces “concerned the maturity” of the proposed dogma, “not a repudiation of the titles,” and he never forbade use of the term.
Mediatrix of All Graces
Concerning Mary’s title as Mediatrix of All Graces, the IMATC criticized the DDF note for seeking to reduce Mary’s maternal mediation only to intercession and for omitting the teaching of 12 popes, including Pope Francis, over four centuries, that upholds Mary’s universal mediation, each of which it lists.
The Marian association also notes that the DDF failed to mention three pontifical commissions established by Pius XI that resulted in 2,000 pages of theological support in favor of the papal definition of Mary’s universal mediation of grace. After presenting further arguments in support of the title, the IMATC asks that the “long-standing doctrinal teaching” of Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces be affirmed and celebrated.
Mater Populi Fidelis states that Marian mediation should not be understood in terms of producing grace, but while the IMATC agrees that true grace only comes from God, it says the note “fails to affirm the active and causal secondary mediation of Mary in the distribution of graces” — something, it says, that previous popes such as Pius X clearly taught. It states that the DDF note “again does not appear reconcilable with papal doctrine.”
Further criticisms of the DDF note the IMATC makes is that the document misses a “true presentation of Mary’s authentic motherhood” and Mary’s intimate union with Christ in the sanctification of souls — a teaching St. John Paul II espoused in his 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater. Furthermore, it says the DDF note minimizes Mary’s merits and, it believes, therefore “undermines all human merit and cooperation in the work of redemption.”
The IMATC expresses concern that by lessening the magisterial doctrine of Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces, the DDF has thrown many Marian practices, such as those connected with the Miraculous Medal, the rosary, and scapular, “into unnecessary confusion and doubt.” It asks how religious communities who use the Co-Redemptrix title in their name are to proceed, and how the 10 million members strong Legion of Mary will respond given that the organization’s handbook has 10 references to Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces.
More importantly, the theologians believe the document will undermine the faithful’s confidence in the papal magisterium, and notes “confusion and frustration” in this area “are already being voiced.”
A week before the publication of the IMATC response, Mariologists launched a filial appeal to Pope Leo XIV, noting the “dismay and consternation” among many of the faithful following the publication of Mater Populi Fidelis and calling on Leo to restore the “honor, truth, and special veneration owed to the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
Protestant more than Catholic
The IMATC theologians contend that it is “precisely the teachings” of Mary as Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix that “constitute the perpetual doctrine of the Church” as they have been taught from Scripture to the Patristic model of Mary as the new Eve, up to modern and contemporary popes.
They believe the risks mentioned by the DDF “appear more theoretical than real” and add that, on the contrary, the titles become “excellent opportunities for authentic Catholic evangelization” along with other key Catholic truths that require appropriate explanations.
Catholic theology affirms that God willed the Virgin Mary to have a role in the work of redemption, the theologians stress, and God wished to associate the contribution of an immaculate human woman and mother to his saving design. “To propose, instead, a redemption based on ‘Jesus alone’ bereft of any human redemptive value on the part of Mary, seems to resemble more a Protestant theology of redemption than that of the Catholic Church,” the IMATC says.
They close by stating it is their “sincere hope and prayer” that their response will contribute, “in a spirit of true synodal dialogue, to a reevaluation of Mater Populi Fidelis” and that such a reevaluation “will lead to a new expression of the magisterium concerning these critically important Marian doctrines and titles in greater consistency, development, and harmony with the doctrinal teachings of previous popes.”
“Among such teachings,” it says, “are those that recognize the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces.”
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.
