This past week the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a new Doctrinal Note called Mater Populi Fidelis, which denied Our Blessed Mother her titles of Coredemptrix and Mediatrix of all Graces.
The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer do not accept this new teaching.
The aim of Mater Populi Fidelis does not seem to be to understand the Tradition concerning Our Lady more deeply and correctly, but rather to further an agenda. The accompanying letter itself states that the reason for its issuance is “a particular ecumenical effort”. Here is the point. Catholics don’t think that Our Lady is higher than Our Lord. Catholics aren’t confused about Who redeemed us. Who is it that is worried about elevating Our Lady too far, and obscuring Our Lord? Who is it that have a problem with Mary as Coredemptrix and Mediatrix? It is the Protestants, and the Jansenists, the “first cousins of Calvinism” (Carreyre, DTC, 8/1 [1924], col. 319).
In fact, this document bears many of the hallmarks of Jansenistic thinking. It has a veneer of Marian piety, but that veneer is only a distraction, while it rips the guts out of some of the most important Marian mysteries. Jansenists want a measured, minimalist reverence towards Our Lady to avoid any hint that Our Lady might be elevated too far, and that is certainly what this document delivers. Mater Populi Fidelis says explicitly that “Such notions elevate Mary so highly that Christ’s own centrality may disappear or, at least, become conditioned.” The Jansenist mentality downplays Our Lady’s active role at Calvary and emphasises that Christ alone is the one Redeemer, and views phrases like “Our Lady co-redeemed the world” as pious excess or doctrinal error. St Alphonsus Liguori, “Hammer of the Jansenists”, devoted much of his work to combatting this specific heresy.
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