Mater Populi Fidelis, An Opportune Moment

On 4 November 2025 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith (formerly the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Holy Office) promulgated into the ordinary magisterium of the Catholic Church Mater Populi Fidelis, perhaps the dicastery's final word on titles for the Blessed Virgin Mary. In particular, the document, named a "doctrinal note," forcefully discourages the loosely used and problematic Marian titles, "Co-Redemptrix" and "Co-Mediatrix," arguing that only Christ Jesus redeems and mediates humanity, while doing no harm to the honor, the hyperdulia, due the Mother of God. The language of the note is concilatory but firm, and should be a win-win, a win for both Mariology and Christology.

The doctrinal note adds clarity for both those with high and low Mariologies. I imagine the document will comes as something of a disappointment for those who embrace extremely high Mariologies, for example Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici, a lay group whose intellectual wing resides (or resided) in Steubenville, OH, at the Franciscan University, where theologian and strong advocate for the promulgation of a fifth Marian dogma, Professor Mark Miravalle, indefatigably championed the cause. In no way can Catholics construe Vox Populi as dissenting from Church teaching on the honor and prerogatives of Mary, or as remotely schismatic, or proto-schismatic. The membership in the group understands full well Catholic Christology, and understands the terms co-redemptrix and co-mediatrix in a way that poses no threat to Catholic orthodoxy; but the Dicastery nonetheless determined that those terms, however nuanced, would confuse rather than enlighten those Catholics (and Christians in general) whose catechesis is limited to the essentials and fundamentals of the faith.

The number of Marian dogmas will remain at 4, and the mysteries contained in them offer vast spiritual nourishment for those whose Mariologies run the gamut. These dogmas become intelligible only through the lens of sound Christology. Marian apparitions, the most famous of which move the devotions of many toward the terms now to be avoided when thinking of Mary, should garner reconsideration, not of their recognition, but of their meaning in proper devotion and sound theology.