Since the publication of Mater Populi Fidelis, there has been spirited commentary on the Marian titles “co-redemptrix” and “mediatrix of all graces.” While I do support these titles, I believe there is a different one that needs to be immediately restored in ordinary Catholic piety, especially in light of the recent synod testimony: Our Lady, the “destroyer of all heresies” (Pope St. Pius X, Pascendi Dominici Gregis).
The recent synod testimonies are simply erroneous and explicitly contradict Catholic doctrine. For example, the second testimony, from “an openly gay Catholic,” opens by saying: “My sexuality isn’t a perversion, disorder, or cross; it’s a gift from God.” This statement comes from a man who eventually entered a Ph.D. program in theology at Fordham University. From these external signs, it is likely that this man is aware of his rupture from Church teachings—namely, that the inclination is “objectively disordered” (CCC 2358), that its acts “can in no case be approved of” (Persona Humana, VIII), and that persons with this tendency are called to a special sharing in the cross (CCC 2358).
In some sense, we should be grateful for the testimonies. They have clearly and definitively manifested that “the major step forward”—as Fr. James Martin branded it—with the Church’s “listening” regarding same-sex attraction is really a movement toward doctrinal rupture. As Cardinal Willem Eijk wrote for the National Catholic Register: “Study Group 9’s report fundamentally contradicts Catholic moral teaching… This report must be forcefully refuted.” The cardinal assures us that “a number of cardinals and bishops will make their objections known to the Roman Magisterium.”
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Prayer to Our Lady, Destroyer of Heresies
O Mary, Mother of Mercy and Refuge of sinners, we beseech thee, be pleased to look with pitiful eyes upon poor heretics and schismatics. Thou who art the Seat of Wisdom, enlighten the minds that are miserably enfolded in the darkness of ignorance and sin, that they may clearly know that the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church is the one true Church of Jesus Christ, outside of which neither holiness nor salvation can be found. Finish the work of their conversion by obtaining for them the grace to accept all the truths of our Holy Faith, and to submit themselves to the Supreme Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth; that so, being united with us in the sweet chains of Divine charity, there may soon be one only fold under the same one Shepherd; and may we all, O Glorious Virgin, sing forever with exultation: Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, thou only hast destroyed all heresies in the whole world. Amen.