Immaculate, our Advocate, Mother of the Church… in how many ways is it possible to turn to Mary. A variety of titles – just think of Loreto’s litanies – which tries to give an idea of the wealth of gifts that God has reserved for her in an exclusive way. However, human error must be taken into account and the Magisterium of the Church has the duty to identify which expressions to avoid.
In the face of various requests, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith made the Doctrinal Note public on 7 October Mater Populi fidelisa complex document to understand which we ask for help from an expert Mariologist such as father Gian Matteo Roggio.
Why, in your opinion, did the Magisterium feel the need to publish this document now?
“If we read the presentation of the document that Cardinal Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery, made, he states that this Note “answers numerous questions and proposals that have arrived at the Holy See in recent decades regarding issues concerning Marian devotion and particularly some Marian titles. These are questions that have raised concerns among the last Pontiffs” and therefore it is normal that the Dicastery for the doctrine of the faith, in agreement with the Pontiffs themselves, intervenes”.
The Magisterium even says it is “concerned”…
«The prefect also says in the presentation that “there are some Marian reflection groups, publications, new forms of devotion and requests for Marian dogmas which do not present the same characteristics of popular devotion but which (…) are expressed intensely through media platforms, frequently awakening doubts in the simplest faithful”. This is what causes the concern.”
The Note expresses itself clearly on the term “co-redemptrix” for Mary, which should be avoided as “this title risks obscuring the unique salvific mediation of Christ”.
«On this the Note is very clear: Mary has the role of preparing to welcome the work of salvation, of helping believers with her intercession, therefore with her prayer, but also with her example, that is, with the memory of her life, her experiences, her choices, to welcome with trust and faith the work of salvation accomplished by Christ. From this point of view, Mary’s role has nothing different from the role of the Church. The Church also wants to announce to the world who Christ is and what Christ has done for us, so that he may be welcomed as the only Savior.”
Even the title of “mediatrix of all graces” is problematic: we read in the Note that “Christ is the only Mediator”. On the other hand, we cannot ignore the use of the term “mediatrix” understood simply as cooperator, applied to Mary…
«If I use the same word for Christ and for Mary – mediator, mediatrix – I am led to think that the meaning of the word is also the same. However the meaning is different. Mary and Christ are not the same. Jesus is a mediator as He is the cause of salvation, He is the Savior. Mary is a saved woman, she is not a savior: she is a saved woman who with her life and her testimony says “I have welcomed the Savior”, so she repeats the words of the wedding at Cana: “Do whatever He tells you”. As you can see we are in a completely different function. It is Christ who saves us by dying and rising for us.”
Mary does not save us, she is saved. Could we say that she is the first to save herself?
«Mary is the first of the saved because her faith was total, without limits or delays. The unique gift of the Immaculate Conception allowed her to be in a condition where she freely chose to grow in faith. Therefore Mary could never say of herself that she is the one who saves. I’ll give you an example: if there were to be an apparition where the witness says: “I saw the Madonna who told me: I am your salvation and you must have faith in me, otherwise you will not be saved”, we can also go further because that is not an authentic apparition”.
We address her as “full of grace”, we ask for her intercession to obtain graces, but the Magisterium says that we run the risk of presenting her “as if she had a deposit of grace separate from God”.
«The image of the spring that the Note takes from the Gospel of John is very instructive. Mary is the one who is so full of God’s grace that when she relates to us, God’s grace is an integral part of this relationship, flowing like living water through her to us. This means that when we also talk about Mary’s maternal affection, that affection is not only sentimental, but also theological: it is a human experience totally filled, shaped and animated by the Holy Spirit, which the Gospel of John calls “living water”. Mary is “full of grace” because she is a person filled, shaped and animated by the “living water” which is the Holy Spirit. And as such it makes the relationship with us – given to her – an encounter where this fullness of the Spirit can be shared starting from the common faith – ours and hers – in Christ, this faith in Christ being the condition (the cause) for being filled with the Holy Spirit”.
We also address Mary as “our advocate”. There is also the risk that some people see in her a kind of lightning rod in the face of God’s justice, that they turn to her to say: “Don’t let the Lord see what I’m up to”…
«If we think that God only wants to exercise punitive justice towards us, then Mary becomes (as the Note explicitly says) a lightning rod in which to take refuge, making her ultimately a better creature than God. The point is that instead God exercises superior justice towards us, calling us to conversion. We began to think that Mary was a lightning rod when we began to forget the superior justice of God. God will judge everyone, in Christ, as we affirm without hesitation in the Creed. But what will he look for in us that day? He will first of all look for what will allow him to save us, no matter how small it may be. God is judge because he wants to save. Mary lives by this superior justice: it is not she who is better than God, but it is God who in her shows us an image of this superior justice which originates from him.”
The classic iconography of the Madonna della Misericordia comes to mind as she opens her cloak and keeps everyone underneath, sheltered, but it’s not like she’s protecting us from God!
«Mary’s task is not to keep me as far away as possible from God, from his superior justice and his judgement. It is exactly the opposite: Mary disposes me to live in conformity with that superior justice, to say with her “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior… The Almighty has done great things for me and Holy is his name”.
When you read this note, what did you think about?
«That clarification is always appropriate and always welcome. The important thing, however, is that after these clarifications they know how to be implemented in an intelligent way. I’ll give you an example: starting from this document someone starts to say “I have a parish dedicated to Mary Mediatrix of all graces”, or “I belong to the confraternity of Mary Coredemptrix, we have to change the name”? Absolutely not. We must avoid making the application of this document equivalent to the so-called cancel culture. This document brings appropriate clarifications, but we must not transform it into a destructive weapon.”
Also because the Marian devotion of some of the faithful has a particular sensitivity…
«We must take inspiration from these clarifications to do exactly two things. Starting again from the true God, first of all. And in the moment in which I have before me the truth of God and the truth of Christ the Savior, being able to welcome Mary as the one who with her prayer, with her life and with her presence tells us, together with the Church: “Trust in God, do not distance yourself from God, follow the Gospel”: there is salvation.”
In the photo: Pieta with Madonna and saints by Raffaellino del Garbo (Bridgeman).
