These are questions that have concerned recent Popes and have been repeatedly addressed in the last thirty years in various areas of study within the Dicastery, such as Congresses and Ordinary Assemblies. This has enabled the Dicastery to compile an abundant and rich body of material that nourishes the present reflection.
While clarifying in what sense certain titles and expressions referring to Mary are acceptable or not, this text also aims to deepen the proper foundations of Marian devotion by specifying Mary’s place in her relationship with believers in light of the Mystery of Christ as the sole Mediator and Redeemer. This entails a profound fidelity to Catholic identity while also requiring a particular ecumenical effort.
The central theme that runs through all these pages is Mary’s motherhood with respect to believers. It appears repeatedly in the document, with statements revisited again and again, each time with new considerations, enriching and completing them in a spiral fashion.
Marian devotion, which Mary’s motherhood engenders, is presented here as a treasure of the Church. The piety of the faithful People of God — who find in Mary refuge, strength, tenderness, and hope — is not contemplated here to correct it but, above all, to appreciate, admire, and encourage it. For this piety is a mystagogical and symbolic expression of an evangelical attitude of trust in the Lord, which the Holy Spirit freely stirs up in believers.
In fact, the poor “also find God’s affection and love in the face of Mary. In her, they see reflected the essential Gospel message.”[1]
However, there are some Marian reflection groups, publications, new devotions, and even requests for Marian dogmas that do not share the same characteristics as popular devotion. Rather, they ultimately propose a particular dogmatic development and express themselves intensely through social media, often sowing confusion among ordinary members of the faithful. Sometimes these initiatives even involve reinterpretations of expressions that were used in the past with a variety of meanings.
This document considers such proposals to indicate how some respond to a genuine Marian devotion inspired by the Gospel, and how others should be avoided since they do not foster a proper contemplation of the harmony of the Christian message as a whole.
Moreover, various passages in this Note offer a broad biblical development to show how authentic Marian devotion is found not only in the Church’s rich Tradition but also in Sacred Scripture.
This document’s prominent biblical imprint is accompanied by texts from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, as well as from recent Pontiffs.
Therefore, rather than proposing limits, the present Note seeks to accompany and sustain the love of Mary and trust in her maternal intercession.
Víctor Manuel Cardinal Fernández
Prefect
