Posted on 12/05/2025 7:36:04 PM PST by ebb tide
Bishop Bernard Fellay of the traditional priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) denounced the Vatican’s rejection of Mary’s titles of Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces as an “insult to God.”
Asked how the faithful should interpret the recently issued doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis, Bishop Fellay said in an interview with Kenya’s Immaculata TV, “I would dare to use the word ‘pitiful.’ It is an insult to God.”
“It’s only God who produces grace in us. But God wants his creatures to collaborate and cooperate in his work. Precisely because He made us free, He wants us to make use of that freedom. And more than that He wants us to merit, He wants us to work.”
“Our Lady at Fatima said there are so many souls who fall into hell because no one prays and makes sacrifices for them,” he continued. “Which means if you pray and make sacrifices you can really save souls. If that’s true for any souls, how much more for the Blessed Virgin Mary? She had been chosen by God to be His mother.”
Bishop Fellay pointed out that popes had used the terms Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix to refer to the Blessed Mother, and he believes “almost all” of the popes have spoken of her in terms of these roles, whether they used these particular terms or not.
He believes that ecumenism has inspired Mater Populi Fidelis, something he pointed out has permeated the Church hierarchy since the Second Vatican Council. The attitude that we must ignore the Blessed Mother is a Protestant one, he added. “There is a Protestant spirit in the Church.”
Bishop Fellay went on to encourage the faithful to ask the Blessed Mother for graces because, as she pointed out in her apparition inscribed on the Miraculous Medal, there are so many graces waiting to be bestowed that people don’t ask for.
Just before these remarks, the bishop had spoken about how Catholic faith in the world has diminished particularly during the 20th century. “The way to Heaven is tough. Our time has reached a higher intensity of evil than before. Temptations are greater than ever,” he said.
He noted that there has been a “terrible crisis in the Church since Vatican II at different levels.”
At one level, he noted, the faith has been diminished, as has the “presence of the Church in the world.” The influence of the church now will be reduced to nothing”
And within the Church itself, religious vocations have diminished as well. “You wonder how far it can go,” he added.
He alluded to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s book Salt of the Earth, which predicted that the Catholic Church would dwindle until it was reduced to “little islands.”
“I fear we are very close to that time,” Bishop Fellay remarked. “A lot of things in the Church have already been destroyed.”
He stressed that we cannot rely upon merely human solutions to the state of the world.
“What has made the saints, the glory of the Church before is precisely not human means … There are human problems, but the solution we bring and the Church brings is not purely human. It is essentially, fundamentally supernatural. It’s as our Lord said it. First you seek the kingdom, the justice of God, and the rest shall be given.”
Ping
For basically the last 500 years, “Mary worship” has been one of the chief protestant attacks on Catholics. Let’s face it... a lot of liberal Catholics prelates suffer from “protestant envy.” They look over at the Anglicans/Episcopalians, the Lutheran state churches of Scandinavia and similar, and they see all the stuff they want: married clergy, women clergy, out-and-proud gay clergy, gay marriage, etc. As a result of this, their whole thing is to try to remake Catholicism in the image of liberal protestantism. And part of that is downplaying the Blessed Virgin.
That’s because romans do worship Mary.
Oh boy, here we go.
That’s not correct. Praying to Mary asking her intercede with God on our behalf is not the same thing as “worship.” If you ask your teacher to write you a letter of recommendation for college or a job, is that equivalent to worshipping your teacher?
He has never been know to tell the truth about what Catholics believe.
And he does it deliberately.
That level of ignorance in the age of the internet is inexcusable, especially when the rebel and your church’s founder said this about her:
“Mary is the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ. She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough”.
“She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding”.
“God has formed the soul and body of the Virgin Mary full of the Holy Spirit, so that she is without all sins, for she has conceived and borne the Lord Jesus”.
“Mary is nothing for the sake of herself, but for the sake of Christ… Mary does not wish that we come to her, but through her to God”.
“She is seen as a marvellous example of the divine power of redemption”.
Quotes on honoring Mary
“One should honor Mary as she herself wished and as she expressed it in the Magnificat. She praised God for his deeds. How then can we praise her? The true honor of Mary is the honor of God, the praise of God’s grace”.
“Let not our hearts cling to her in faith, but through her penetrate to Christ and to God himself”.
“We can use the Hail Mary as a meditation in which we recite what grace God has given her. Second, we should add a wish that everyone may know and respect her”.
“Our Lady at Fatima said there are so many souls who fall into hell because no one prays and makes sacrifices for them,” he continued. “Which means if you pray and make sacrifices you can really save souls. If that’s true for any souls, how much more for the Blessed Virgin Mary? She had been chosen by God to be His mother.”
Prayer and sacrifices cannot save anyone.
Only Jesus can save someone.
The Jewish sacrificial system saved no one. It pointed to Christ. Salvation has always been through faith in the promised Messiah.
“Prayer and sacrifices cannot save anyone.”
Thank you for that input. Much appreciated. When considering this topic, I can choose to accept the theological prognostications of “Metmom,” or I can believe the contradictory testimony of saints like St. Nicholas of Tolentino, St. Faustina Kowalska and St. (Padre) Pio of Pietrelcina.
“Souls from Purgatory Visited These Saints”
https://www.ncregister.com/blog/souls-from-purgatory-visited-these-saints
Either you’re right or they’re right. It can’t do both. Weighing the two alternatives, I have to go with my gut and cast my lot with the latter. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, and I can’t (and won’t) say that Metmom didn’t warn me. So thanks again.
God bless +Fellay and the SSPX.
God bless the late Abp Lefebvre who did what he had to in a state of dire emergency.
Amen
Spend some time around people from3rd world countries. Believe me, Mary is worshipped as a Goddess. They kneel, they pray to her, cry to her. You may never hear Jesus’ name in their prayers, only the blessed virgin ( Mary had several kids, naturally withJoseph). The Mary statues in their churches are covered in flowers/ gifts. Maybe some Catholics don’t worship her, but boy oh boy, the billion third-worlders sure do. Oh yes.
To reaffirm metmom’s statement that, “Prayer and sacrifices cannot save anyone. Only Jesus can save someone.” …….
Consider the thief on the cross next to Jesus. In Luke 23:43, Jesus tells the penitent thief, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise,” indicating that the thief would be with Him in heaven that day.
There was no mention that the thief had to first go to purgatory to get cleansed. Are we to believe that he was an exception, or could it be that there is no purgatory. Jesus would surly have told us if it was so.
The Vatican still believes all that about Mary. They just have bigger fish to fry called eceumenism. So they have to lay low on this fable.
That article reeks of merit-based salvation. Earning and keeping your salvation.
Comical reply. You need to read Ligouri and Montfront and their writings on Mary. Talk about not being informed.
“That’s not correct. Praying to Mary asking her intercede with God on our behalf is not the same thing as “worship.” If you ask your teacher to write you a letter of recommendation for college or a job, is that equivalent to worshipping your teacher?”
Bad argument - Jesus walked among us as 100% Man and 100% God in order for us to develop a personal “Man-to-Man” relationship with Him. He also became a direct line between us and God the Father...who thinks God really wants us to pray to dead mortals instead of going directly to Him and His Son?
What verse in the Bible gives Mary the title of Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces?
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