Vatican City, Oct 30, 2025 / 09:14 am (CNA).
The Vatican’s doctrine office announced Thursday it will release a document on Nov. 4 about titles of Mary that refer to her “cooperation in the work of salvation.”
Mary’s contribution to human salvation, specifically the title of “Co-Redemptrix” (“Co-Redeemer”) has been a point of theological debate for decades — with proponents calling for Mary’s role in redemption to be declared a dogma but critics saying it exaggerates her importance and could damage efforts for unity with other Christian denominations.
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will present the doctrinal note on the topic, titled “Mater Populi Fidelis” (“Faithful Mother of the People”), at the Jesuit Curia in Rome.
Fernández told journalists in July the dicastery was working on a text on “various Marian themes” but did not reveal more about its content.
Theologian Father Matteo Armando, secretary of the dicastery’s doctrine department, will also speak at the presentation Nov. 4, along with an expert consulter of the dicastery, Father Maurizio Gronchi, who teaches Christology — the Church’s teaching on the person, nature, and role of Christ — at Rome’s Pontifical Urban University.
Recent popes have held varying positions on the use of the title “Co-Redemptrix” for Mary.
In 2017, the International Marian Association submitted a request to Pope Francis for public recognition of the title of Mary as “Co-Redemptrix with Jesus the Redeemer,” one of multiple petitions sent to the Vatican in the last century.
But the pope expressed his reservations about the title on more than one occasion during his pontificate.
In his general audience address on March 24, 2021, Francis said that while Christians had always given Mary beautiful titles, it was important to remember that Christ is the only redeemer, and that Mary was entrusted to us “as a mother, not as a goddess, not as co-redeemer.”
As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 2000, Pope Benedict XVI said he thought the title “Co-Redemptrix” was too far from Scripture and could cause misunderstandings about Christ’s status as redeemer — though supporters of the Marian formula felt he showed more openness to the devotion in his pontificate, despite never explicitly using the term.
St. John Paul II, instead, publicly used the word “Co-Redemptrix” at least six times during his pontificate, renewing hopes in an imminent declaration of the dogma in the 1990s.
The title can be traced back to the 10th century, when some Marian litanies included the title of Mary as Redemptrix, along with her son. The prefix of “co-” was added by the 15th century, to clarify that Mary was not the Redeemer but rather someone who uniquely cooperated in the work of redemption.
“Co-Redemptrix” received magisterial recognition only centuries later, in 1908, when the Sacred Congregation for Rites used it in a decree elevating the rank of the feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary.
Since then, it has been referenced multiple times in Church teaching, including during the Second Vatican Council, which ultimately decided against any formal recognition of the title in the document Lumen Gentium.
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At least do not use the Virgin Mary as a “bridge” to other religions, as is now sometimes done in some Catholic circles. A hadith of the religion of peace tells the faithful that the Prophet will marry and deflower the Virgin Mary in Paradise. See the details on this belief of the religion of peace below in an article by scholar R. Ibrahim. So, yes, the religion of peace has a high regard for the Virgin Mary, but not in the way Christians do. See
Is Mary a Bridge between Islam and Christianity?
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2024/09/23/is-mary-a-bridge-between-islam-and-christianity/
While Cdl Fernández and theologians mentioned may arrive at a suitable response to the title of Mary as co redemptrix, mediaeval theologians were using the terminology meruit de congruo regarding Mary’s assumed role as co redemptrix. Irenaeus during the 2nd century used weightier wording attributing causality by her obedience.
Although the later theology gained acceptance, Mary de congruo realized the title by her unique participation in salvation. Not by justice rather by her Son’s love for her. Only the Son is the unique savior, that is, de condigno, by right. Pius X has previously given approval of Mary’s title as co redemptrix de congruo in his encyclical Ad diem illum.
Whether the title will be acknowledged, it cannot be denied that the revelation of the Father in the humanness of the Son could not have occurred absent the cooperative assent of Mary.
Oh boy…isn’t it simply wondrous and exciting that the celebrity-hierarch and psycho-sexually-absorbed author of “Heal Me With Your Mouth” will be contributing his personal deposit onto the magisterium…of The Blessed Mother?
Surely we are blessed to live in the anticipation of it all.
We read “with proponents calling for Mary’s role in redemption to be declared a dogma but critics saying it exaggerates her importance and could damage efforts for unity with other Christian denominations.” So Christian unity demands we make compromises with those who believe in error.
Francis said while Christians had always given Mary beautiful titles, it was important to remember that Christ is the only redeemer, and that Mary was entrusted to us “as a mother, not as a goddess, not as co-redeemer.”
Perfect example of how to gas light and insult Catholics at the same time.
Hopefully this will discourage excessive marian piety and clear things up for the marian fanatics. There is a group at my parish that has taken it upon themselves to add “mediatrix of all graces” to the Hail Mary prayer after the words “mother of God” when they pray the rosary in church.