Marian Titles, off the Mark

“Has the Holy Father changed what we believed about Our Lady?”  This was the question that many asked after the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published the document titled “Mater Populi Fidelis”, which means “The Mother of the Faithful People of God,” on November 4, 2025.  It carries the subtitle: “Doctrinal Note on Some Marian Titles Regarding Mary’s Cooperation in the Work of Salvation” and had received the approval of Pope Leo XIV on October 7, 2025 and, as such, is part of the Pope’s ordinary magisterium.

            In short, it can be said that this Doctrinal Note does not change Catholic doctrine.  Rather, it reaffirms what the Church has always taught, that Jesus Christ is the sole Redeemer and Mediator, and that everything about Mary points to the primacy and centrality of Christ. Whatever Mary does for the faithful, she does only through Christ and because of his saving work. Within this framework, the Doctrinal Note explains why it is inappropriate or unhelpful to apply certain titles like co-redemptrix to Mary.  Since titles like “co-redemptrix” were applied to Mary in the past, and the Church now asks us not to use them, we may say that something has changed. Yet what has changed is not Catholic doctrine itself, but rather the Church’s judgment about some titles that could obscure or ambiguously express that doctrine.  Let us examine more in detail what it says.

The title ‘Co-redemptrix’

            A redeemer is the one who saves humanity from sin and restores our relationship with God. Jesus is our redeemer because he is God made human, and through his life, death, and resurrection, he frees us from the power of sin and opens the way to new life. The Letters to the Colossians and Ephesians affirm that God reconciles all things to himself “through him” (Col 1:20) and that “we have redemption through his blood” (Eph 1:7). There is no one else through whom we are redeemed.

            The title “Co-redemptrix” began to be applied to Mary in the fifteenth century. “Redemptrix” is the feminine form of the Latin redemptor, meaning redeemer. Applying “Co-redemptrix” to Mary could suggest that she shares the role of redeemer with Jesus and holds equal responsibility for redemption. This is incorrect, since Mary is not “God who became human” and did not die to save humanity from sin. While she indeed cooperated with Jesus in the work of redemption, this does not make her a “co-redeemer” just as cooperating with a Prime Minister does not make one a “co-prime minister.” Some Church documents and even Popes, including St. John Paul II during the earlier part of his pontificate, have used the title “Co-redemptrix,” but chiefly to mean: i) that by becoming the Mother of Jesus she made possible the redemption Christ accomplished, and ii) that at the Cross she united her sufferings with His. They did not mean that Mary redeems in the same way or on the same level as Christ; the term denotes cooperation, not equivalence.

            The title “Co-redemptrix” would need constant explanation to avoid misunderstanding. It has no foundation in Scripture or in the Fathers of the Church, and it does not truly honour Mary, whose mission is always to lead us to Christ rather than stand in his place. Christ’s redemptive sacrifice is perfect and complete; it requires no addition. For these reasons, the Church now states that “it is always inappropriate to use the title ‘Co-redemptrix’ to define Mary’s cooperation” (para. 22).

The title Mediatrix

            The English word mediator comes from Latin and means someone who “stands in the middle” between two parties to bring them into a close relationship by conveying concerns, needs, or desires, reconciling, interceding, or serving as a channel of help or grace. Mediatrix is simply the feminine form of mediator.

            In Christian theology, Jesus is the unique Mediator. He unites God and humanity in his own divine-human person and reconciles them through his obedient life, passion, death, and resurrection. Only he can accomplish this reconciliation because only he is both God and man. For this reason, the First Letter to Timothy says: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:5-6). No one else can be a mediator in the way Jesus is. Therefore, the Church teaches that “special prudence is required when applying the term ‘Mediatrix’ to Mary” (par. 24).

            However, the word “mediation” is often used in everyday life to mean cooperation, assistance, or intercession. In this sense, Mary exercised a mediating role (cooperating and assisting) in Jesus’ saving work because she freely accepted to be his mother (Lk 1:26–38). She accompanied Jesus and led others to him: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). She stood by him beneath the Cross as he offered the atoning sacrifice (Jn 19:25), and Jesus entrusted her with a special ministry by making her the mother of all believers (Jn 19:26-27). She also aided the early community in prayer (Acts 1:14).

As our heavenly mother, she continues to present our needs to Jesus as she did at Cana (Jn 2:3). Because of all this she may be called mediatrix, “but in a clearly subordinate manner” (par. 27). It is in this sense that the Second Vatican Council uses the title “mediatrix,” for Lumen Gentium teaches: “Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix. This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator” (n. 62). Mary’s mediation is thus a “participated mediation.”

Mediatrix of All Graces

            While the title “mediatrix” can be used for Mary when understood in the way described above, the Church discourages calling her the “Mediatrix of All Graces” (pars. 67, 68). This is because i) Mary herself was redeemed by Christ -- as the dogma of the Immaculate Conception affirms -- from the first moment of her conception, before she could do anything on her own, so she did not mediate the grace of redemption for herself; and ii) the title could mistakenly present Mary, rather than Christ or God, as the one who gives graces (pars. 14, 67, 68).

            All grace comes to us directly from God. Mary does not gather graces from God, store them, and distribute them to those who ask, nor does she command Jesus or dictate his actions.

            Mary i) presents our needs to God as she did at Cana -- “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3) -- and thus intercedes for us; ii) prepares us to receive God’s graces; iii) helps us persevere in them; iv) encourages us to grow in them; and v) assists us in reflecting on the works God is doing in our lives (pars. 67–74). She does all this with motherly affection, “filled with the tenderness and closeness of the Mother” (par. 69). While all the saints can intercede for us, and we can intercede for others, Mary’s prayer/intercession -- because she is the Mother of God, “full of grace,” and because of the unique way she cooperated with Jesus in salvation —“has a value and an efficacy that cannot be compared to any other intercession” (par. 38).

            Mary may be called “Mother of Grace” or “Mother in the order of grace” because she is the mother of Christ who is Grace himself and prepares believers to receive the graces he won for humanity (para. 71).

            Thus, according to the Doctrinal Note, the title “co-redemptrix” (and redemptrix) should not be used; the title “mediatrix” may be used with proper caution; and the title “mediatrix of all graces” is imprecise and problematic and best avoided. Titles such as Mother of God, Mother of the Faithful People of God, Mother of the Church, Mother in the Order of Grace, First Disciple, Advocate, Help of Christians, Hope of the Poor, and other biblical and patristic titles like “Full of Grace” and “New Eve” are appropriate.

            We honour Mary and glorify God when we use true titles and avoid those that are not.

Blurbs

“Mary is the most perfect expression of Christ’s action that transforms our humanity.  She is the feminine manifestation that Christ’s grace can accomplish in a human being.” -- Mater Pouli Fidelis, n. 1

“Marian devotion, which Mary’s motherhood engenders, is presented here as a treasure of the Church…. Therefore, rather than proposing limits, the present Note seeks to accompany and sustain the love of Mary and trust in her maternal intercession.” -- Victor Manuel Cardinal Fernández