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Posted on 10/12/2026 5:15:17 PM PDT by ebb tide
Speaking on Thursday, October 8, at the De Maria Numquam Satis conference in Rome, which was dedicated to the topic of the Blessed Mother in light of dogma and worship, Cardinal Gerhard Müller gave a beautiful presentation of traditional Catholic teaching on the special role of the Blessed Mother in the salvific work of Our Lord.
This speech had an especially powerful effect in light of the fact that only a year ago, the Vatican itself had issued a statement undercutting that very teaching. In the October 5, 2025, document Mater Populis Fidelis, the Vatican, with explicit support from Pope Leo XIV, declared that the use of Our Lady’s title as Co-Redemptrix is “always inappropriate.”
On the previous day of the conference, Cardinal Raymond Burke had presented a good defense of Our Lady’s unique role in the redemption of mankind as well.
Without referencing this document or entering into any polemics against it, Cardinal Müller on his part simply and calmly presented the way the Church has always regarded this topic.
First discussing the differences between Protestant and Catholic understandings of the life of grace after Christ’s redemption of mankind, the German cardinal expounded that in the Catholic understanding, man has to work out his own salvation and does not play a mere passive role in it. We have to “cooperate” in our salvation. It is “through prayer, fasting, spiritual exercises and works of charity” that we grow in love for God and neighbor and gain eternal salvation.
Quoting St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (3:9), according to which “we are God’s fellow-workers,” Müller insisted that we can be “co-causes of redemption and justification of sinners, acting as secondary causes.” That is the simple fact that we all are meant to help each other get to heaven, and God, for the sake of charity, wants us to effectively help Him, through our prayers, sacrifices, and actions, to gains souls for His greater glory.
READ: Against Leo XIV: Cardinal Burke reasserts Our Lady as Co-Redemptrix
But if we all are called to be instruments of God’s salvific grace, to be channels of grace to one another, how much more would Our Lady, the Mother of God, be such an instrument? The former prefect of the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith pointed out that she has the God-given dignitas causalis inasmuch as she has given her consent to the Incarnation taking place in her womb. God thus made the implementation of His salvific plan dependent upon the cooperation, the consent, of Mary, “submitting Himself to the free consent, the ‘consensus,’ of the creature,” in Müller’s words. God entrusted “the salvation of all humanity to her virginal and maternal heart” that He himself had prepared in a special way “from the very first moment of her conception” by preserving her from original sin. Müller put it beautifully when he stated: “Mary declares her willingness, in the freedom wrought by grace, to place herself at the service of God’s universal saving Will and hence to cooperate in its historical fulfillment.”
Mary collaborates, as His Spouse, with the Holy Ghost in the Incarnation, and with it, she is “in a unique way intrinsically and essentially linked to Christ’s salvific work.” As Müller highlights, she thereby represents “the new unity of grace and nature.” Since Jesus Christ, her Son, is the Mediator between God and man, Mary herself is “indissolubly linked” to the work of redemption because she participated in the Incarnation, yet also because she partook in a unique way in the suffering and crucifixion of her Son. The German prelate reminded his audience in his speech that Mary’s “soul was pierced by a sword. His body that was crucified “was the very same body that was born of her for the salvation of the world.”
Developing further the role of Our Lady in God’s work of redemption, Müller also expounded on the traditional concept of Our Lady as the “New Eve” who, through her obedience, countered the evil effects of Eve’s original disobedience. “Eve, through her disobedience and lack of faith, became the cause of death, whilst Mary became the cause of life,” the cardinal beautifully explained. Our Lady thus becomes Our Lord’s “partner and helper” who intercedes for mankind and helps them save their souls.
Müller insisted here that Mary herself, in order to fulfill this role, received grace. That these insights are part of the Church’s long-standing tradition becomes clear when Müller quoted St. Irenaeus of Lyon, who explained this concept of the “New Eve.” It is worthwhile here to quote part of a longer passage used by the speaker, namely that “just as Eve allowed herself to be seduced by an angel into disobeying God, so this one allowed herself to be persuaded by an angel to obey God.”
Let us conclude our report on this very uplifting and encouraging speech of Müller with a final quote of his: “When, therefore, Mary is called ‘Co-Redemptrix’ in Catholic piety and theology, this is neither a misleading attribution nor an enthusiastic exaggeration, but a truth objectively contained within Revelation. This title must not be silenced.”
To read a translation of Müller’s full remarks, visit Edward Pentin’s Substack here.
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Ping
The Bible teaches that there is one Mediator between God and man -— Jesus the Christ. Mary is blessed above all women for her agreeing to bear Jesus, but that’s all. Naturally, we appreciate what she did, but nowhere does Scripture refer to her as co-redemptrix.
Shhhhhhh, The Roman Church might get mad when you bring up their 1400+ years of blatant heresy, or the fact they believe anything but the words in the Bible.(I am not talking about their Latin Vulgate and its additions either)
Looks like the new synodal “church” agrees with you folks.
I Timothy 2:5 reads: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”
It doesn’t add “And his mom.”
That sounds like Little Jimmy Talerico speaking.
and nowhere in the bible does it state Sola Scripture. Thank God for Martin Luther inventing Christianity.
And thank you guys for all your zanny “church traditions!” Guaranteed not to be influenced by the Chief Liar. Right up there with Mormonism.
“Mary is called ‘Co-Redemptrix’ in Catholic piety and theology”
Can someone point me to the book, chapter, and verse in the Bible that backs this claim up?
As a Catholic I agree with you. I’m not even sure where this school of thought came from.
CC
I had a Freeper a few years ago tell me that if it wasn’t for “them,” there would be no Bible and no Sola Scriptura.
And nowhere in the Bible does it say Mary is Co-Redemptrix.
Mary was a vessel. God always was and is. God did not have sex with Mary.
Theologians like to contemplate these questions. The central question is whether men have a participatory role in Christ’s redemption. If that is true—and I am not claiming that it is—then Mary’s role would be particularly significant. She was preserved from sin from the moment of her conception, just as Adam and Eve were created without sin, although their circumstances were different. This grace was fitting for the one who would bear Christ, the Son of God.
Furthermore, if Mary was preserved from sin, unlike Adam and Eve, who fell into sin, then perhaps her suffering would possess a greater merit than the suffering of those of us who are sinners. This is a theological possibility worth contemplating, even if it is not something I am asserting as established doctrine.
Personally, I am inclined to think that God’s primary objective in creation was to have the company of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the rest of humanity being, in some sense, a secondary purpose. I recognize that this is a speculative thought, but I believe that underestimating Mary’s place in the hierarchy of God’s creation reflects a failure to appreciate her unique standing in His divine plan.
She has a special role as the Christ-bearer. But Co-Redemptrix? That’s a bit much.
CC
Can someone point me to the book, chapter, and verse in the Bible that backs this claim up?
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You expect someone to look in the divinely inspired Scriptures, the Word of God, like some anathematized Protestant to prove a Catholic doctrine? Just look where going by the Bible got John Hus.
If God preserved Mary from sin then He can preserve everyone and if everyone then cross not necessary.
You just don’t understand. The sovereign, immutable Creator and Sustainer of all creation, the Almighty God, had to wait and see if Mary was going to agree to becoming the mother of the Messiah. Fortunately she agreed to it, so that God didn’t have to change His plan...oh wait...he’s immutable...and sovereign...never mind, carry on.
Mary was a Sinner, just as everyone else is. Jesus didn’t treat her any differently. She praised Jesus as her savior.
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