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November 5, 2025 | 8:44am
MANILA, Philippines — The Vatican has released a document clarifying certain titles of Mary and her role.
On November 4, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) released a document titled “Mater Populi fidelis,” addressing inquiries regarding Marian devotion and certain titles of Mary.
Aside from clarifications, the document said that it aims to “deepen the proper foundations of Marian devotion by specifying Mary's place in her relationship with believers in light of the Mystery of Christ as the sole Mediator and Redeemer.”
The document responds to questions that the Holy See described as “numerous” and “have been repeatedly addressed in the last thirty years.”
Who is Mary? In many Christian traditions, such as the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Chuch, Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ.
He is referred to as the “theotokos” or the “Mother of God.”
What is the Discastery of the Doctrine of the Faith? The DDF is a department of the Roman Curia in charge of the religious discipline of the Catholic Church.
Discouraged titles. According to the DDF, the following are the titles that should be avoided in reference to Mary:
- Co-redemptrix
- Redemptrix
- Mediatrix
- Mediatrix of All Graces
Why does this matter? Catholics maintain that Jesus redeemed humanity through his death on the cross.
For centuries, religious scholars have debated the extent to which Mary, honored by Catholics and many other Christians as the Mother of God, assisted Jesus in the work of saving the world.
This document clarified centuries of debate and uncertainty regarding Mary’s role and titles.
Christ alone is the redeemer. According to the DDF’s document, Mary’s titles describe her as “Redemptrix” and “Co-redemptrix,” which are deemed inappropriate or unhelpful because they threaten to diminish or eclipse the exclusive role of Christ as the unique redeemer.
“This title risks obscuring Christ's unique salvific mediation and can therefore create confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith, for ‘there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by whom we must be saved,’” the Vatican’s document read.
The document also cited the late Pope Francis’ opposition to the titles, arguing that Mary never sought to appropriate anything of her Son's role or present herself as a co-savior.
Francis said that Christ’s redemptive work was perfect and required no additions, asserting that there is only one redeemer, and this title cannot be duplicated or shared.
Citing Francis, the document said: "The sacrifice of the Cross, offered with a loving and obedient spirit, presents a superabundant and infinite satisfaction."
It also cited the response to the petition of the late Pope Benedict XVI, who was the former prefect of the DDF, who opposed the titles of Mary as redemptrix:
A defined doctrine of divine faith belongs to the Depositum Fidei — that is, to the divine revelation conveyed in Scripture and the apostolic tradition. However, it is not clear how the doctrine expressed in these titles is present in Scripture and the apostolic tradition."[36] Later, in 2002, he publicly voiced his opinion against the use of the title: “the formula 'Co-redemptrix' departs to too great an extent from the language of Scripture and of the Fathers and therefore gives rise to misunderstandings… Everything comes from Him [Christ], as the Letter to the Ephesians and the Letter to the Colossians, in particular, tell us; Mary, too, is everything that she is through Him. The word 'Co-redemptrix' would obscure this origin.” While Cardinal Ratzinger did not deny that there may have been good intentions and valuable aspects in the proposal to use this title, he maintained that they were “being expressed in the wrong way.”[37]
Mediatrix or Mediatrix of All Graces. The DDF explained that the title “Mediatrix” or “Mediatrix of All Graces” risks portraying Mary as a distributor of “spiritual goods or energies” disconnected from Jesus Christ.
It risks suggesting that grace flows through Mary or that she holds a "repository of grace separate from God.”
The DDF also explained that the title "Mediatrix of all graces" is inherently limited because Mary, as the first redeemed, could not have been the mediatrix of the grace she herself received.
“Indeed, she, the first redeemer, cannot be the mediator of the grace received through her,” the document read.
In the Philippines, the supposed apparition of Mary in 1951 in Lipa was called “Mary, the Mediatrix of All Graces.”
However, the devotion to the said image of Mary was rejected by the Vatican, calling it “fraudulent.” The Vatican also declared the apparition of Mary non-supernatural twice.
The said image of Mary was also involved in a legal dispute, after former Sandiganbayan Justice Harriet Demetriou sued Dominican exorcist Winston Cabading for “offending religious feelings” over the latter's remarks on the Mediatrix.
On September 29, the Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of the case against Cabading.
