The International Marian Association has requested that the leader of Roman Catholicism, Jorge Bergoglio, also known as Pope Francis, refer to Mary as “co-redemptrix with Jesus the redeemer” during the 100th year anniversary of the purported apparitions of Mary in Fatima, Portugal.
The Theological Commission of the Marian Association, which is comprised of 30 supportive entities, including Vatican Secretariat of State Florian Kolfhaus, Andrew Apostoli of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Elias Mary of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Sanctuary in Wisconsin, and Michael O’Neill and Christopher Padgett of the Mariological Society of America, recently released a 10-page document outlining why Mary is deserving of the title.
It states that Mary passed on her sinless nature—given to her by God at conception—to Jesus, that He might redeem the world from sin. Through her willing human participation in the Father’s divine means of saving wicked men, the Commission contends, she is the “New Eve” just as Jesus is the “New Adam.”
“Mary, the ‘full of grace’ (Lk. 1:28) was providentially prepared by the Father through her Immaculate Conception to participate with the Son in the crushing of the head of Satan and redeeming humanity from sin, and to pass on to her divine Son an immaculate human nature like her own in order to accomplish the mission of redemption,” the document asserts.
Within the rich tradition of the Church the patristic concept of Mary as the ‘New Eve’ who uniquely worked with Jesus, the ‘New Adam,’ to restore the life of grace to the human family contains within itself the doctrine of Mary’s unique participation with Jesus in the redemption,” it states. “Declared ‘Mother of the Church’ by Pope Bl. Paul VI, Mary ‘cooperated in initiating God’s kingdom’ and thus manifested her motherly co-redemption for the Church.”
The Commission clarifies, however, that the title of co-redemptrix does not set Mary as equal with Christ, as it believes such a concept would be heresy.
“The philosophical and theological meaning of ‘participation’ includes the understanding of an inferior being ‘taking part in’ (partem capere) the perfections or qualities of a superior being,” it outlines. “Thus, Mary’s participation in the redemption of Christ in no way diminishes His perfect divine redemption, but rather in a human feminine and maternal expression, partakes in its divine power and efficacy.”
The Marian Association therefore requests that “Pope Francis would kindly grant public recognition and honor to the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary as ‘co-redemptrix with Jesus the redeemer’” during the Fatima observance in May. It says that the recognition would provide a means for humanity to consider how God used men as a vessel as He carried out His purposes in the plan of salvation.
“We believe that a public acknowledgement of Mary’s true and continuous role with Jesus in the saving work of redemption would justly celebrate the role of humanity in God’s saving plan; foster greater devotion to the mother of God; and lead to the release of historic graces through an even more powerful exercise of our lady’s maternal roles of intercession for the Church and for all humanity today,” it writes. Full Report
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