Scholars request a formal reply from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to their detailed criticism of ‘Mater Populi Fidelis,’ which they say departs from papal and conciliar teaching on Our Lady.
Members of an international group of leading theologians and Mariologists have written to Cardinal Victor Fernández, asking him to respond to their detailed criticisms of a Vatican doctrinal note published last November that diminished some long-established devotional Marian titles.
In a letter dated March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph, and made public on the Feast of the Annunciation, the Theological Commission of the International Marian Association expressed its disappointment that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), which Cardinal Fernández heads, had not yet replied to their concerns about Mater Populi Fidelis (Mother of the Faithful People) that they published in a lengthy commentary on Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Mater Populi Fidelis, the doctrinal note that the DDF published on Nov. 4, teaches that Mary’s unique cooperation in salvation must always be understood as entirely dependent on and subordinate to Christ’s one mediation and universal redemptive sacrifice, rejecting any formulations that would blur this asymmetry. Significantly, it judges the titles “Co‑redemptrix” and certain uses of “Mediatrix of all graces” pastorally and theologically ambiguous, discouraging their use in official teaching or liturgy, while not denying the truths they seek to express.
The document’s diminution of the Marian titles drew considerable criticism from Mariologists, concerned it adopts a minimalist view of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in salvation. While some praised it as a clarifying and ecumenically unifying move, recentering Marian language clearly on Christ and discouraging titles that they believe can be easily misunderstood, others were concerned it could lessen popular devotion to her and risk ending new Marian dogmas related to these titles after decades of Mariological work.
The members of the theological commission told Cardinal Fernández in their March 19 letter that their 23-page commentary cited multiple Mariological statements in the doctrinal note, which “constituted omissions, minimalizations, or even in some cases contradictions of previous pre-conciliar and post-conciliar doctrinal Marian teachings.”
They added that the clarifications and corrections highlighted in their commentary “are necessary in order to reflect a Mariological hermeneutic of continuity with both pre-conciliar and post-conciliar Papal Mariological teachings, as well as with the essential Mariological teachings found in the Second Vatican Council.”
To bolster their case for a correction of the doctrinal note, the theologians drew Cardinal Fernández’s attention to past doctrinal notes from the Holy Office (now the DDF) that have required rectification, and which would then become part of the Magisterium. In particular, they cited the “notable example” of the Holy Office’s 1866 Instruction on Slavery, Collectanea S. Congregationes de Propaganda Fide Sue Decreta Instructiones Rescripta Pro Apostolicis Missionibus (Collection of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith: Its Decrees, Instructions and Rescripts for Apostolic Missions), which asserted that slavery was not contrary to natural or divine law. Pope Leo XIII overturned that position in 1888, and St. John Paul II, in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth), designated slavery “as one of the practices which are by nature ‘intrinsically evil.’”
The theologians wrote in their Dec. 8 commentary that they welcomed Cardinal Fernández’s informal Nov. 27 remarks to Vatican journalist Diane Montagna, in which he informally modified the doctrinal note’s language regarding the title “Co-redemptrix.” The cardinal clarified that its use is not “always inappropriate” as stated in Mater Populi Fidelis, but merely excluded from official documents and liturgies. Although the theologians saw this as positive, they regretted it remained unofficial and unaccompanied by a formal correction from the DDF.
The document, they wrote, still has a “substantial omission of the redemptive value of Mary’s unique active cooperation in objective redemption, as well as what we see to be an unnecessary prohibition of the legitimate Co-redemptrix title from future official documents of the Holy See and from liturgical texts.” The doctrinal note, they wrote, represented “an anti-development of doctrine.”
The theological commission, which comprises cardinals, bishops, and more than 40 internationally respected theologians and Mariologists, including U.S. scholars Scott Hahn, Mark Miravalle and Michael Sirilla, stressed that they issued their criticisms of Mater Populi Fidelis “in an expression of respectful synodal dialogue and in pursuit of the best possible theological formation for the good of the Church.”
They also asserted that their criticisms cohered with their responsibility as theologians, specified in the 1990 DDF instruction Donum Veritatis (Gift of Truth),which said it was “the duty” of theologians “to make known to the Magisterial authorities” problematic teaching.
They ended their letter by respectfully requesting an official response to the IMATC commentary on Mater Populi Fidelis, as well as to other petitions made by the faithful worldwide “concerning the deficiencies of this doctrinal note.”
The Register contacted Cardinal Fernandez for comment but he had not responded by press time.
This article was originally published by EWTN New English.
