Posted on 11/04/2025 4:54:45 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
VATICAN CITY, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Jesus may have heard words of wisdom from his mother Mary, but she did not help him save the world from damnation, the Vatican said on Tuesday.
In a new decree approved by Pope Leo, the Vatican's top doctrinal office instructed the world's 1.4 billion Catholics not to refer to Mary as the "co-redeemer" of the world.
Jesus alone saved the world, said the new instruction, settling an internal debate that had befuddled senior Church figures for decades, and even sparked rare open disagreement among recent popes.
"It would not be appropriate to use the title 'co-redemptrix'," said the text. "This title ... (can) create confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith."
Catholics believe Jesus redeemed humanity by his crucifixion and death. Church scholars have debated for centuries whether Mary, who Catholics and many Christians call the Mother of God, helped Jesus save the world.
The late Pope Francis fiercely opposed granting Mary the title of "co-redeemer", at one point calling the idea "foolishness".
"She never wanted to take anything for herself from her son," Francis, who died in April, said in 2019.
Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI, also opposed the title. His predecessor, John Paul II, supported it, but stopped using the title publicly in the mid-1990s after the doctrinal office began expressing scepticism.
The new Vatican instruction highlighted Mary's role as an intermediary between God and humanity. By giving birth to Jesus, she "opened the gates of the Redemption that all humanity had awaited", it said.
According to the Bible, Mary's response to the angel who told her she would become pregnant was: "Let it be."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
(”Let it be.”)
Whisper words of wisdom...
(In a new decree approved by Pope Leo, the Vatican’s top doctrinal office instructed the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics not to refer to Mary as the “co-redeemer” of the world.)
👍👍👍
Kind of what Protestants have said all along. So why pray to Mary or any so called “saint”?
Somebody must be actually reading the Bible at the Vatican. Next thing you know they’ll be admitting Christ is our ONLY mediator and the Sabbath is the Lord’s day.
Then what are the evangelicals going to do. Also, I thought the Pope ,when he spoke ex cathedra....he was infallible. Isn’t Mary as co redemtrix official doctrine? So are the past popes fallible?
I like what Ellen White said......GOD ALONE is infallible. I agree with that.
Something is going on .....wow.
Well, the popester stated the obvious. In a roundabout way, Mary played a part in saving the world. She was 16, a mere child, unwed and pregnant thru no fault of her own, didn’t self-abort in a time when her life was on the line and her fiance, Joseph, could have denounced her but didn’t. She carried the unbroken bloodline from the line of David Instead, joseph married her and got himself a ready-made family while carrying the kingship line. You could rightly say that even Joseph played a part in saving the world.
I don’t understand how there was ever a question of anyone else but Jesus redeeming the world.
This kinda nonsense is why the reformation happened.
Took a Pope how many centuries to declare this heretical teaching to be heretical?
Catholics are way too hung up on Mary. They need to let her go.
Last one to have read the Bible over there was Martin Luther.
I have 9 years of Catholic (Dominican nun) elementary and 4 years of (Jesuit priest) high schools, and I have never in my entire life heard Mary referred to as the “co-redeemer” of the world.
Pope making a “brave” stand against his strawman fallacy. zzzzz
Drats, forgot to call him Prevost. He has yet to earn the title of Pope.
(I don’t understand how there was ever a question of anyone else but Jesus redeeming the world.)
Same here
“co-redemptrix” I recall it was the 1990s(?) that I first heard of that term
“I don’t understand how there was ever a question of anyone else but Jesus redeeming the world.”
There wasnt. But what was discussed by the Vatican IMO was too nuanced and complex for a Reuters news article to deal with.
I hate to agree with the Pope, but he’s right.
This! ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
The world’s as unsaved as it ever was.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-Redemptrix
The concept was especially common in the late Middle Ages, when it was promoted heavily among the Franciscans, and often resisted by the Dominicans. By the early 16th century the hopes of the concept becoming Catholic doctrine had receded, and have never seriously revived. In more recent times, the title has received some support from the Catholic Magisterium[3] though it is not included in the concluding chapter of the apostolic constitution Lumen gentium of the Second Vatican Council, which chapter many theologians hold to be a comprehensive summary of Catholic Mariology.
In the year of 1913, the Pope granted an indulgence to those who recited a prayer containing the following passage: I bless thy holy Name, I praise thine exalted privilege of being truly Mother of God, ever Virgin, conceived without stain of sin, Co-Redemptrix of the human race. The prayer is found in the Raccolta of 1950 with Vatican approval.[4][5]
Elsie, have you got any examples?
Exactly…
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.