The kind of soft apostasy emanating regularly from the Vatican these days by players like the Doctrine of Faith’s prefect, Victor Cardinal Hernandez, who rather than vigorously defending doctrines seems more interested in wearing down resistance from those annoying, orthodox Catholics who stubbornly cling to the Faith of our Fathers. The latest example of this baleful phenomenon is the November 4 release of Mater Populi Fidelis, in which the oily prefect seems willing to denigrate the Mother of God by stripping away her titles as “Mediatrix of all Graces” as well as that of “Co-Redemptrix,” or at least banning their usage in ordinary theological dialogue. In a brazen exercise of faux-pietry the cardinal insists “the title of Co-Redemptrix risks eclipsing the exclusive role of Jesus Christ and would not be a true honor to his mother,” declaring it to be “inappropriate and theologically unhelpful.” This is classic Curial doublespeak, an art-form now fine tuned from previous documents such as Amoris Laetitia, Traditionis Custodis, Fratelli Tutti, Fiducia Supplicans and other dubious contributions of the “Francis papacy” designed more to muddy the waters than to contribute real clarity to difficult Church teachings.

Let me put it plainly as my long deceased spiritual mentor Fr. Thomas Kelly, S.J. often said, “Whoever honors the Mother honors the Son,” the obvious corollary being that one can never honor the Son by dishonoring his Mother. Again, Cardinal Fernandez goes on to proclaim that the title “Mediatrix of all Graces suggests a lack of solid grounding in Revelation and carries limits that do not favor a correct understanding of Mary’s unique place.'” So what then is Mary’s unique role in salvation history according to the Church’s teachings and traditions if we may be so bold as to ask the cardinal prefect? Co-Redemptrix after all is a title which goes back at least to the 15th century and has been affirmed by numerous popes and saints including Sts. John Henry Newman and Maxmilian Kolbe. Did these also share an incorrect understanding of Mary’s unique place?

We know that the human race was initially condemned by the sin of Adam whose wife, Eve, cooperated in that original sin. Christ then came along as the new Adam to atone for that sin and to reconcile mankind to God. But just as Adam did not act alone in sinning but was accompanied by Eve, so too Christ work of redemption is accomplished through the cooperation of a woman, a New Eve who participated crucially in that same work of redemption. That New Eve is Mary who made possible mankind’s redemption by endowing the Redeemer with flesh and a fully human nature. Her fiat was the essential key that would unlock the whole divine plan of salvation. Without her consent Christ could never have entered into the world in his human form to accomplish his own work of redemption.

Truly, it was Christ’s blood alone which was shed for our salvation but it was his mother who had first infused that blood in his human veins. Moreover, Mary also shared vicariously in his terrible suffering, passion, and death, never leaving the foot of the cross. She willingly cooperated with the divine plan from the moment of her Son’s incarnation in her virginal womb up until his burial in the tomb. Just as Eve standing under the tree indulges her own will, thereby bringing a curse upon all her future offspring, so our Virgin Mother Mary likewise stands under a tree (the cross) sacrificing her own will in order to help rescue her children from that same curse. Are such considerations both “inappropriate and theologically unhelpful” as the cardinal insists? It would seem that for any devout Christian just the opposite would ring true. Just as we might say that a ghost writer helping some famous person write his life’s story is a true co-author, so too Mary is truly Co-Redemptrix by virtue of her constant support of her Son’s mission, even as she herself remained in the shadows.

Mary’s role in salvation history is both unique and irreplaceable. No other creature will ever attain the dignity of her calling nor exercise such a fidelity to that calling. In this she is wholly unique. But her maternity of Christ was not just a once and done thing, rather the Son expanded her role significantly when, on the cross, Jesus gave her to be a mother to all of humanity to mediate those graces won by her Son in his terrible passion. Now every child instinctively understands that if it needs or wants something you go to mom. In the traditional family it is the father who earns the family income but it is typically the mother who dispenses that income according to individual needs. The mother is the mediator of the family budget, while the father is the provider. Just so, Christ earned all the graces that the family of God would ever need, but he entrusted those graces and merits to his Mother to dispense to her needy children.

That is why good Christians go to Mary with their needs, because she is our perfect and most influential advocate. The Son of God cannot say no to any earnest request by his Mother, exemplified by Jesus’ first miracle during the marriage feast at Cana. Seeing the need for more wine Mary says, “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5) and her Son promptly complies. If that is Christ’s response to his Mother as regards a dwindling wine supply, how much more does this lesson apply to the dispersal of divine graces? The concept of Mary as Mediatrix of all Graces is not a difficult or complicated theological proposition even for children to understand. It appeals directly to our most basic spiritual instincts. And how would such title “suggest a lack of solid grounding in Revelation” when in fact the opposite seems to be true as the Gospel narratives indicate?

Cardinal Fernandez seems to relish engaging in clerical and theological gaslighting of which Mater Populi Fidelis serves as a perfect example. Yet I fear that this subtle but incessant denigration of Mary’s role in the Church will continue from Roman prelates like Fernandez, a process begun with the introduction of the Novus Ordo Mass in late 1969 when Mary’s name quietly disappeared from the Confiteor; also at the Offertory and the Libera Nos (Deliver us Lord) following the Lord’s Prayer. Even then the Leonine prayers imploring the aid of Mary at the end of Mass had long been excised along with the Last Gospel of St. John reflecting a relentless 60 year pattern of diminishing the role of Mary in both liturgy and devotions.

The Catholic Catechism #675 speaks of a persecution in the Church which “will unveil ‘the mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth.” What is alarming is that such a persecution now seems to be coming from within the very ranks of those whose office is to defend, not to parse or dilute those truths long held by centuries of Catholics. It is this ‘soft apostasy’ which will inevitably harden into full apostasy so long as it is allowed to continue unchallenged. God has thus far shown remarkable forbearance towards those who blaspheme him directly, but what good Son will long tolerate those who denigrate, belittle, or insult his Mother who is the true Mother of the divine High Priest, and therefore of all priests.

This attack on the dignity of Mary which began with the Protestant revolution is a red line which no right minded cleric who had any sense of divine justice would dare to cross. I say beware! to any priest who would have the temerity to cross that line. The Fear of God, one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, has been much forgotten by too many modern Christians who rashly presume upon the Most High’s goodwill. He is merciful yes, but that mercy is also tempered by divine justice. One cannot mock the Mother of God and expect Him to simply look away. If the Church is suffering today one cause may be that too many of her clergy have abandoned their true mother, the Mediatrix of all Graces. These wayward sons need to turn back to her and put their faith in her most powerful intercession. Mother most pure, Mother most humble, Mother most amiable, Mother of divine grace pray for us.

Francis J. Pierson +a.m.d.g.