Last week marked an event that, at first glance, could be interpreted as an act of doctrinal clarification. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published the Note Mater Populi Fidelis, explicitly rejecting the Marian titles of Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of all Graces for the Virgin Mary. However, a closer analysis reveals that the document does not seek to deepen the understanding of the Catholic Tradition regarding Our Lady, but rather to advance a specific agenda. The accompanying letter is crystal clear: the issuance of the Note stems from "a particular ecumenical effort." Herein lies the heart of the matter: who, after all, is so concerned about not "elevating" Mary too much as to obscure Christ? It is not the faithful Catholics, who never confuse the Mother with the Son. It is, indeed, the Protestants – and, more closely, the Jansenists, those "first cousins of Calvinism," as defined by the theologian Carreyre in the Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique (8/1 [1924], col. 319).
🎭 The Veneer of Piety and the Minimalist Essence
Mater Populi Fidelis boasts a veneer of Marian piety, with respectful references to the Virgin as the "Mother of the Faithful People." But this veneer serves only as a distraction. Underneath it, the document guts central Marian mysteries, promoting a measured, minimalist, and calculated reverence – exactly what the Jansenists always advocated to avoid any "excess" that might suggest an undue elevation of Mary.
The text of the Note is explicit: "Such notions elevate Mary so highly that the very centrality of Christ may disappear or, at least, become conditioned." This sentence echoes the Jansenist dread that any active participation of Our Lady in the Redemption might overshadow the uniqueness of Christ. The Jansenists, influenced by a rigorist and almost Calvinist view of grace, insisted that Christ alone is the sole Redeemer, rejecting expressions like "Mary co-redeemed the world" as exaggerated piety or doctrinal error. They minimized Mary's role at Calvary, reducing her to a passive figure, so as not to "condition" the absolute sovereignty of God.
🔨 Saint Alphonsus Liguori: The Hammer of the Jansenists
It was precisely against this heresy that Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, known as the "Hammer of the Jansenists," dedicated a large part of his work. In The Glories of Mary, he vigorously defends Our Lady's unique cooperation in the work of Redemption, without ever compromising the centrality of Christ. For Saint Alphonsus, Mary is Co-Redemptrix because, by divine will, she freely united herself to the sacrifice of the Son; she is Mediatrix because she distributes the graces merited by Christ. These doctrines are not pious innovations but flourish from the Patristic and Magisterial Tradition, from Saint Bernard to Leo XIII.
The Jansenists, however, saw a danger in this. Their theology, marked by anthropological pessimism and irresistible grace, could not tolerate secondary mediations. Any emphasis on Marian intercession was suspected of being disguised Pelagianism. And now, Mater Populi Fidelis revives this mentality: by prioritizing "ecumenical effort," it sacrifices Catholic truths on the altar of dialogue with those who have rejected Mary since the 16th century.
⚖️ Ecumenism at the Cost of Truth?
Ecumenism is praiseworthy when it seeks unity in truth. But when it becomes a pretext for diluting doctrines, it turns into disguised syncretism. Who benefits from the denial of Marian titles? Certainly not Catholics, who see in Mary the Mother given by Christ on the Cross (Jn 19:26-27). The beneficiaries are the Protestants, for whom any mediation other than Christ is idolatry; and the remnants of Jansenism, who have always preferred a cold and distant Mariology.
The Catholic Tradition does not fear "elevating" Mary: it exalts her because God exalted her first (Lk 1:48). To deny her co-redemption is to ignore that, in the divine plan, the New Eve cooperates with the New Adam. It is to reduce the mystery of the Incarnation to an isolated event, without the consented participation of the Virgin ("Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum").
🛑 Conclusion: An Agenda That Is Not Catholic
Mater Populi Fidelis is not a document of doctrinal deepening; it is a product of an ecumenical agenda that bears the unmistakable marks of Jansenism: Marian minimalism, fear of pious "excess," and a Christology that, paradoxically, impoverishes the mystery by excluding the Mother. Saint Alphonsus warned us: Jansenism did not die; it just changes its form. Today, it disguises itself as magisterial prudence.
May the faithful, enlightened by Tradition and the saints, continue to proclaim Mary as Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix – not out of confusion, but out of fidelity to the Gospel and the Church. For, as the Marian Doctor teaches, "De Maria numquam satis": about Mary, one can never say enough.
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