On November 4, the Vatican’s doctrinal office, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), led by prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel (“Tucho”) Fernández, did just that in the Catholic world when it published the document “Mater Populi Fidelis”( “The Mother of the Faithful People of God”). Strikingly and disturbingly, the document claimed that the title of “Co-Redemptrix” was not an appropriate way to portray the Blessed Virgin Mary’s participation in God’s salvific plan.
Few serious Catholics, if any, have taken issue with the title of Our Lady as “Co-Redemptrix”, or confused the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the unique redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
In the aftermath of the document’s release, eyebrows were unsurprisingly raised, and emotions soared. Many faithful Catholics devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, including prominent Catholic prelates and lay people, slammed the DDF’s document and its prefect, contending that the confusing publication goes against longstanding Church teaching about the Blessed Mother’s unique role in God’s plan for redeeming mankind and thus sows division among the faithful.
For example, Fr Joachim Heimerl stated on LifeSiteNews (LSN):
“When an ambiguous figure like the current prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has nothing better to do than to cast the Marian devotion of the faithful in a supposedly negative light, it says far less about the Blessed Virgin than it does about those who engage in such behavior. The fact that they do so with the ‘blessing’ of the Pope does not make things any better, but only illustrates what is really going on behind the scenes, and this is nothing less than the establishment of a new ‘Catholic’ Church and a new ‘Catholic’ faith.”
Likewise, in a post on X, Catholic philosopher Edward Feser singled out how the inconsistencies in Cardinal Fernández’s theological arguments have undermined the DDF’s job to spread sound and clear Catholic doctrine.
“…consider all the ink spilled in recent years by those attempting to explain: -how Amoris Laetitia can be reconciled with Christ’s teaching on divorce and St. Paul’s teaching on worthiness to receive Holy Communion -how the revised Catechism’s statement that ‘the death penalty… is an attack on the inviolability and the dignity of the person’ and Dignitas Infinita’s statement that ‘the death penalty… violates the inalienable dignity of every person, regardless of the circumstances’ can be reconciled with the consistent teaching of scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and all the popes up to Benedict XVI that the death penalty is not intrinsically wrong -how ‘blessing couples’ in same-sex or adulterous relationships can be licit even though ‘blessing unions’ of those kinds is not -Pope Francis’s claim that ‘the pluralism and the diversity of religions… are willed by God’ -how human beings can ‘possess an infinite dignity,’ given that, on the most natural reading of that expression, only God can have such dignity. And so on for other statements coming from the pope or the Vatican during Francis’s pontificate. Even if we suppose for the sake of argument that all of these statements can be reconciled with traditional teaching, it takes a lot of work to do so – much more work than should ever be necessary with a statement coming from a pope or from the DDF.”
Faithful Catholics devoted to the Holy Virgin Mary as their Heavenly Mother, have predictably viewed Cardinal Fernández’s rejection of the title of Mary as “Co-Redemptrix” as a despicable attempt to downplay Our Lady’s unique role in cooperating with God’s redemptive plan for mankind.
The Holy Father better in achieve genuine Church unity by promoting and clearly articulating the title of Mary as “Co-Redemptrix,” in accordance with Catholic teaching.
Few serious Catholics, if any, have taken issue (and made a public scene out of it) with the title of Our Lady as “Co-Redemptrix”, or confused the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the unique redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
Writer Carl Olson penned the following in an article on Catholic World Report (CWR):
“And yet I have never heard any Catholic in my parish (or from any other parish, for that matter) talk about Mary as if she is ‘co-Savior’, or to confuse the role of Mary with the unique, saving work of Christ. Rather, we understand that Mary is unique in her relationship with her Son, always cooperating with perfect love and joy in His saving work.”
However, Cardinal Fernández’s tolerance or endorsement of “Fiducia Supplicans”, a contentious document permitting priests to “bless” to couples in “irregular situations”, including same-sex couples, despite the immense confusion surrounding “Fiducia Supplicans”, is highly inconsistent and hypocritical.
In fact, following the public backlash over “Fiducia Supplicans” due to its contents, the Coptic Orthodox Church even temporarily halted theological dialogue with the Catholic Church! (Talk about “Church unity” under Cardinal Fernández, who seems to cherry pick which facets of Catholic teaching to maintain as per his ideological whims instead of fidelity to Catholic doctrine!)
Moreover, Cardinal Fernández’s persistent acceptance of the pastoral direction adopted by “Amoris Laetitia”, a document apparently undermining the indissolubility of marriage and the objective reality of sin, is also immensely disingenuous and divisive, given that this document seemed to many as contradicting centuries of Gospel and Church teaching on the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony.
By disregarding Our Lady’s title of “Co-Redemptrix” that reflects Mary’s dignified and free cooperation in redemption, while promoting questionable moral teachings in “Fiducia Supplicans” or “Amoris Laetitia”, Cardinal Fernández has demonstrated theological inconsistency as well as an inability and unwillingness to clearly enunciate traditional Catholic doctrine, while claiming to strictly guard against the Marian title of “Co-Redemptrix”.
The result? Catholics all around the world are left divided and reeling in confusion regarding the Church’s unchangeable teachings on the Blessed Virgin Mary and on marriage.
Nonetheless, some voices have tried to run to Pope Leo XIV’s defense (given that “Mater Populi Fidelis” was supposedly approved by the pontiff himself), with National Catholic Register (NCR) writer Matthew Bunson making a rather (in my view) feeble attempt to justify the document:
“In discouraging the possible use of the title Co-Redemptrix for Mary, Pope Leo is also trying to build a new bridge to other Churches and ecclesial communities while taking away any potential obstacles that could obscure the absolute centrality of Christ. He is thus re-focusing our gaze as Christians — Mary among us as the first and greatest disciple and as Mother of the Church — on unity in Christ.”
Is Bunson then insinuating that Our Lady is a “potential obstacle” that could “obscure the absolute centrality of Christ” and the post-conciliar Church’s goal of attaining “ecumenical fraternity”? It could be well inferred so, based on the aforementioned paragraph alone!
Rather, the Holy Father would excel better in achieving genuine Church unity in extolling Our Lady’s role in God’s salvation plan, promoting and clearly articulating the title of Mary as “Co-Redemptrix,” in accordance with Catholic teaching that Jesus Christ Our Lord and Redeemer is the Sole Mediator between God the Father and mankind. After all, one cause of division within the Church is heresy, and Mary, being the Exterminatrix of Heresies, will dispel confusion and pave the way towards Her Divine Son Jesus Christ.
By adopting an unflinching stance on moral teachings such as those pertaining to Catholic marriage and homosexuality, Pope Leo XIV can contribute towards easing existing divisions and ambiguities within Holy Mother Church.
And one of the very first steps towards eradicating internal Church divisions and ensuring true Church unity would be to remove Cardinal Fernández from the DDF, for the latter who tried to portray the Blessed Virgin Mary as merely “the girl next door” simply has messed with the wrong Lady…
Maria Redemptoris Mater, pray for us.
