ROME, Italy.- The Vatican Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith has concluded that the Virgin Mary cannot be considered “co-redemptor” and cannot share with Jesus the power of save humanity from sinso no new dogma will be proclaimed, which puts an end to a long dispute among theologians.
The prefect of the former Holy Officethe Argentine cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandezpresented this Tuesday a dense document titled ‘Mother of the Faithful People’ at a press conference outside the Vatican, in which the various titles with which one can speak of Mary, the mother of godand in which she makes it clear that she cannot be defined as “redeemer” or “mediator” or who grants graces.
Avoid using the title “Coredemptrix”
The Vatican published this Tuesday an extensive document entitled Doctrinal note on some Marian titles referring to Mary’s cooperation in the work of salvation, in which it urges avoiding the use of the title “Coredemptrix” to refer to the Virgin Mary.
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“Taking into account the need to explain the subordinate role of Mary to Christ in the work of Redemptionit is always inappropriate use of the title of co-redemptrix to define the Maria’s cooperation. This title risks obscuring the only saving mediation of Christ and, therefore, can generate confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of truths of the Christian faith“, it is explained in the text.
Likewise, in another passage of the text it is also concluded that “in the strict sense, we cannot speak of another mediation in grace other than that of the incarnate Son of God” and therefore we cannot speak of Mary “as a mediator” to achieve the salvation that Catholicism promises.
Mary, “maternal protection”
And it also explains that she does not grant graces, but that “Mary in the order of grace must be understood as dispositive” with her “maternal protection” helps, in various ways, “to dispose us to the life of grace that only the Lord can instill in us,” it reads.
For years, the question of the “co-redemption” of the Virgin Mary has been the subject of intense debate among theologians, especially among “mariologists,” who study the branch of theology dedicated to the mother of Jesus Christ.
In defense of the cult of Mary “co-redemptrix”
He cult of Mary “co-redemptrix” It is defended, above all, by some sectors of ultra-conservative Catholics, some of whom have been asking for years for the proclamation of a new dogma about the Virgin.
Dogmas are truths of faith that the Church explicitly defines as irrefutable. About the Virgin there are four: that she was conceived without sin, that she remained a virgin, that she was the Mother of God and that she was assumed into heaven.
References to Mary “Coredemptrix”
He Pope John Paul II He referred to Mary on several occasions as “co-redemptrix,” while Benedict
Several saints such as Padre Pio, Gabriel de la Dolorosa, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Bartolo Longo, Maximilian Kolbe, Edith Stein, Sister Lucia of Fátima referred to the Virgin as “co-redemptrix” so at the request of the Holy See A commission was established in XIII International Mariological Congress which was held in Czestochowa, Poland, in 1996, and which has already concluded with a refusal to the institution of the new dogma.
But during these years the requests have continued. The Mexican Cardinal Juan Sandoval He explained on one occasion that a statement had been sent to Pope Francis asking for the proclamation of the dogma with the signatures of 570 bishops from 79 countries, thousands of priests, men and women religious and 8 million lay faithful collected since the 90s through the campaign “Voice of the People of Mary Mediatrix”.
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