By Monica Miller
Crisis Magazine
November 10, 2025
Two parents have generated us for death; two parents have generated us for life."
This is a statement St. Augustine proclaimed in Sermon 22. The parents of death are, of course, Adam and Eve-as they ushered in original sin and the Fall of man. And who are the parents of life? Namely, according to Augustine-none other than God and the Virgin Mary. It could be argued that Augustine is saying, at least on some level, that if Mary was called by God to partner with Him in the world's salvation, Mary, properly understood, in union with God, is Co-redemptrix.
The Doctrinal Note
Of course, I am bringing this up in light of the new Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith's Doctrinal Note Mater Populi Fidelis, issued November 4 by the DDF's prefect Cardinal Victor Fernández, with the approval of Pope Leo XIV, that rejects the Co-redemptrix title for Mary.
Articles 16-21 provide a detailed overview of the historical origin and use of the term starting with St. Bernard in the 12th century up to Pope Francis who "On at least three occasions...expressed his clear opposition to using the title 'Co-redemptrix,' arguing that Mary 'never wished to appropriate anything of her Son for herself. She never presented herself as a co-Savior. No, a disciple'" (Article 21). This is followed by the following statement in Article 22:
Given the necessity of explaining Mary's subordinate role to Christ in the work of Redemption, it would not be appropriate to use the title "Co-redemptrix" to define Mary's cooperation. This title risks obscuring Christ's unique salvific mediation and can therefore create confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith, for "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). When an expression requires many, repeated explanations to prevent it from straying from a correct meaning, it does not serve the faith of the People of God and becomes unhelpful. In this case, the expression "Co-redemptrix" does not help extol Mary as the first and foremost collaborator in the work of Redemption and grace, for it carries the risk of eclipsing the exclusive role of Jesus Christ-the Son of God made man for our salvation, who was the only one capable of offering the Father a sacrifice of infinite value-which would not be a true honor to his Mother. Indeed, as the "handmaid of the Lord" (Lk. 1:38), Mary directs us to Christ and asks us to "do whatever he tells you" (Jn. 2:5).
The Note doesn't say that the Co-redemptrix title for Mary is heretical but, rather, "inappropriate" and is discouraging its use for the reasons indicated. It is important to note that the document certainly acknowledges that Mary is "the first and foremost collaborator in the work of Redemption and grace."
While, as the editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine has pointed out, there are many other issues that the DDF should clarify and indeed this DDF has itself been the cause of confusion, this author would agree that the Marian Co-redemptrix title can be misunderstood-making Mary's role in redemption equal to Christ's. Moreover, any Vatican declaration that formally titles Mary as Co-redemptrix surely would further alienate Protestants who are already very wrongly repulsed by Catholic Marian devotion.
Church Fathers and Mary
Nonetheless, some of the greatest theologians going back to the earliest centuries of the Church spoke of Mary as God's true assistant and partner in the economy of Redemption. It's interesting and even pleasurable to see exactly what the Church Fathers had to say on this very point. Consider these examples:
We know that [Christ] before all creatures, proceeded from the Father by His will and power...and by means of the Virgin became man, that by what way the disobedience arising from the serpent had its beginning, by that way also it might have an undoing. (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 100)
Because Christ came "by means of the Virgin," the disobedience of the first woman is undone.
The second-century Latin Father Tertullian similarly states:
God recovered His image and likeness, which the devil had seized, by a rival operation. For into Eve, as yet a virgin, had crept the word which was the framer of death. Equally into a virgin was to be introduced the Word of God which was the builder up of that life; that what by one sex had gone into perdition, by the same sex might be brought back to salvation. Eve had believed the serpent; Mary believed Gabriel; the fault which the one committed by believing, the other by believing blotted out. (On the Flesh of Christ, 17)
Tertullian seems to be saying that Mary's "yes"-reversing the fault of Eve-at least was the start of the world's salvation.
St. Irenaeus, the second-century bishop of Lyons, provides one of the most famous passages on the salvific role of Mary.
But Eve was disobedient...As she, having indeed Adam for a husband but as yet being a virgin...becoming disobedient became the cause of death both for herself and for the whole human race, so also Mary, having the predestined man, yet being a Virgin, being obedient, became both to herself and to the whole human race the cause of salvation...For, whereas the Lord, when born, was the first-begotten of the dead, and received into His bosom the primitive fathers, He regenerated them unto the Life of God. He Himself becoming the beginning of the living, since Adam became the beginning of the dying...And so the knot of Eve's disobedience received its unloosing through the obedience of Mary; for what Eve, a virgin, bound by incredulity, that Mary, a virgin, unloosed by faith. (AgainstHeresies, 3,22,4)
And, though the one had disobeyed God, yet the other was drawn to obey God; that of the virgin Eve the Virgin Mary might become the advocate. And, as by a virgin the human race had been bound by death, by a virgin it is saved, the balance being preserved, a virgin's disobedience by a virgin's obedience. (Against Heresies, 5,19,1)
Both Christ and Mary are origins of life. Irenaeus states that Christ is "the beginning of the living," but this is only possible through the Virgin's obedience. The saint even goes so far as to say that the human race is saved by this Virgin's obedience.
Sts. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechesis 12, 15; PG 33.742), Ephrem Syrus (Opp. Syr. ii), and Epiphanius (Haer. 78, 18; PG 42.730), all likewise proclaim that Mary is the cause of new life in God. Mary as source of salvation, in contrast to Eve, was proclaimed by the fourth-century Church Father St. Jerome in almost the form of a slogan: "Death by Eve, life by Mary."
Mary at Cana
We must also consider Mary's role at the wedding at Cana. Here Mary instigates the mission of her Son and leads Him to the Passion.
On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had likewise been invited to the celebration. At a certain point the wine ran out and Jesus' mother told him, "They have no more wine." Jesus replied, "Woman, how does this concern of yours involve me? My hour has not yet come." His mother instructed those waiting on table, "Do whatever he tells you." (John 2:1-5)
This incident is remarkable for a number of reasons. First, Mary takes the initiative in the situation. Jesus says the lack of wine is her concern, but she obviously thinks it is his concern too and expects that he will do something about it. But, of course, the wedding at Cana is not about simply the replenishment of an alcoholic beverage. Jesus' words "My hour has not yet come" are the key to the meaning of this passage. In the Gospel of John, "the hour" refers to Christ's crucifixion and His entrance into glory. Christ's words at Cana: "My hour has not yet come" connect His first miracle to His Passion.
The performance of the miracle of changing water into wine will usher in "the Hour" which is precisely the reason Christ was conceived and born "of woman." The wedding at Cana shows that Mary is not only the "mother of Jesus," she is the mother of His mission. She is the principal human agent in the initiation of Christ to His public ministry. Mary officiates at Cana. Her officiation is directed at aiding her Son in the accomplishment of His work of redemption.
The quality and quantity of the wine produced by Christ demonstrates the messianic import of His first miracle. Mary knew the importance of Christ's first public act. She serves as the catalyst of Christ's salvific activity. Because she leads Christ to His Passion, she therefore also leads Him toward His glory. She is not the cause of this glory in the sense that she gave Christ the power to perform the miracle. Christ is God, and the power is His. But she acts as the origin of the miracle in the sense of being, dare we say, the "mediatrix" of it in the same way that Mary's "fiat mihi" causes her to mediate the Incarnation. As Mary brought Christ into the world, here she causes Christ's glory to be manifested to the world. Thus, she is the origin of the disciples' faith which comes as a result of the Cana miracle (John 2:11).
At Cana, Christ subjects Himself to Mary in the accomplishment of His Father's business. Or perhaps we should say that Christ, through the mediation of Mary's maternal authority, discerned and then subjected Himself to the will of the Father. She is the New Eve, the true and effective helpmate of the New Adam. It is also interesting to note the exact sense of Jesus' initial response to Mary's "They have no more wine." Many Bible translations have Jesus responding, "How does this concern of yours involve me? My hour has not yet come," as we saw in the above verse. However, in the literal Greek, Christ says to her, "Woman, what is this to me and to you? My hour has not yet come."
Regarding the hour, the former translation poses a separation between Jesus and His mother. But in the original Greek, Jesus actually includes Mary in His hour. And from the Cross, Christ refers to Mary again when He says, "Woman, behold your son," indicating John the beloved disciple when, through the Cross borne by Jesus, Mary becomes the "Mother of all the living"—the Mother of all those who will be birthed into life by, in the words of St. Augustine, the "Parents of Life."
The point I am making is this: while the Note calls the title "Co-redemptrix" applied to Mary "inappropriate," Mary is nonetheless, as the theological and doctrinal heritage of the Church confirms, God's chief co-partner in the accomplishment of redemption.
The teaching of St. Paul also illuminates this point when he teaches that interdependency exists between the sexes: "Yet, in the Lord, woman is not independent of man nor man independent of woman. In the same way that woman was made from man, so man is born of woman; and all is from God" (1 Corinthians 11:11-12).
"Man is born of woman." This is true even of the Son of God. Christ is dependent on the life-giving power of Mary. She made God physically present in human history so that salvation could be accomplished. Christ is from Mary because of her "yes," because of her "fiat mihi." "Let it be done to me," declared Mary to the angel. Mary's "yes" is the beginning not only of her motherhood but of the New Creation. Redemption is begun with the "yes" of Mary.
The Letter to the Hebrews also affirms this truth when it teaches, regarding the Old Covenant, "it is impossible for the blood of goats and bulls to take sins away" (Hebrews 10:4). The next verses state in reference to Christ:
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me...Then I said "As is written of me in the book, I have come to do your will, O God."First he says "Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings, you neither desired or delighted in" (these are offered according to the prescriptions of the law.) Then he says, "I have come to do your will." In other words, he takes away the first covenant to establish the second. By this "will" we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. (Hebrews 10:3-10)
And who is it who made the "offering of the body of Christ" possible—and thus the accomplishment of redemption possible? None other than Mary in her cooperation with the will of God.
Mary as Mediatrix
My purpose here is to clarify and highlight that while, thus far, the Vatican has rejected the Marian title "Co-redemptrix," nonetheless, Mary was and is God's chief co-worker in the salvific mission of her Son. As for the title "Mediatrix" as applied to Mary, the DDF affirms that the title is permitted if properly understood—after all, let's note that even John Paul II called Mary "Mediatrix" in his encyclical Redemptoris Mater (Article 40).
Mary's mediatorial role is acknowledged in the DDF Note, Article 26:
On the other hand, it is clear that Mary had a real mediatory role in enabling the Incarnation of the Son of God in our humanity, since the Redeemer was to be "born of woman" (Gal. 4:4). The account of the Annunciation shows that this involved not only a biological mediation since it highlights Mary's active involvement in asking questions (cf. Lk. 1:29, 34) and accepting with a firm resolve: "fiat" (Lk. 1:38). Mary's response opened the gates of the Redemption that all humanity had awaited and that the saints described with poetic drama. At the wedding feast in Cana, Mary also fulfills a mediating role when she presents the needs of the newlyweds to Jesus (cf. Jn. 2:3) and instructs the servants to follow his directions (cf. Jn. 2:5).
I have shown, however, that everything that the above article affirms regarding Mary as Mediatrix also affirms that she is a true partner in advancing the redemptive work of her Son—more pertinent to a co-partner, co-worker, "co-redemptrix" role. And indeed, many Catholics are perhaps befuddled by the DDF's rejection of the title "Co-redemptrix" as applied to Mary. After all, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and talks like a duck—it's probably a duck.
And it is interesting to note that the document even goes so far as to confirm that anyone can be Christ's partner in salvation, as stated in Article 28:
At the same time, we need to remember that the unicity of Christ's mediation is "inclusive." He enables various forms of participation in his salvific plan because, in communion with him, we can all become, in some way, cooperators with God and "mediators" for one another (cf. 1 Cor. 3:9). Precisely because of Christ's infinitely supreme power, he can elevate his brothers and sisters to make them capable of a genuine cooperation in the accomplishment of his plans.
If this can be said of poor sinners, certainly it can be said of Mary that she is the hyper-partner of God and is so uniquely.
And while the Church, for now, will not honor Mary formally under the title of Co-redemptrix, this doesn't necessarily mean that the faithful cannot, in our private devotions, honor her in this way. And as one commentator has pointed out:
The papal approval is at the end of the document, right before the endnotes. Interesting that Leo XIV approved the note, but not "in forma specifica"—which would make it an actual papal teaching demanding high assent of the faithful.
My intent in this article is to explain that while the DDF finds the term "Co-redemptrix" "inappropriate" as a title for Mary, nonetheless she did aid Christ in the accomplishment of salvation—contrary to the unfortunately ubiquitously published Reuter's article that reported "the Vatican says Mary...did not help [Jesus] save the world from damnation."
Christ, the "Living One," and Mary, "Mother of all the Living," possess a covenantal partnership, as the new humanity was produced through the "Parents of Life." The new humanity is established by this holy alliance. Mary became the "Mother of all the Living" by the birth pangs of a maternity that led Our Lord to the Cross.