Mary and the Gospel:

A Reformation Anglican Response to Today’s Vatican Ruling

What happened today?

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released a doctrinal note, Mater Populi Fidelis (“Mother of the Faithful People of God”), clarifying which Marian titles Roman Catholics should and should not use. Most notably, it says it “would not be appropriate” to call Mary Co-redemptrix because that title risks obscuring Christ’s unique, once-for-all work of redemption. It also warns that no human person—including Mary—can be a universal dispenser of grace; only God gives grace through Christ. The note prefers “Mother in the order of grace,” and allows certain titles like “Mediatrix” only in a carefully limited, analogical sense that does not compete with Christ’s sole mediation.

What the Vatican actually said

1. No “Co-redemptrix.”
   The note states: “it would not be appropriate to use the title ‘Co-redemptrix’… This title risks obscuring Christ’s unique salvific mediation… ‘there is salvation in no one else’” (Acts 4:12).

2. Strict limits on “Mediatrix” and similar language.
   The document argues that any “mediation” attributed to Mary must be only by distant analogy. Mary is not a channel through which grace itself flows; she intercedes maternally and helps believers open their hearts to Christ, but only God bestows grace through Christ. “No human person — not even the Apostles or the Blessed Virgin — can act as a universal dispenser of grace… Only God can bestow grace… The fact is that only God, the Triune God, justifies.”

3. Mary’s cooperation, redefined.
   The note still speaks of Mary’s “cooperation in the work of salvation” and traces that idea through Scripture, patristic sources, and later theology, but it repeatedly insists on Christ’s “sole mediation and redemption,” and it frames Mary’s role as maternal intercession that never interrupts the immediate relationship between the believer and Christ.

Authoritative summaries from Vatican News, the USCCB, and Catholic News Agency highlight the same points: no “Co-redemptrix,” carefully delimited use of “Mediatrix,” and an affirmation that Jesus alone redeems.

A Reformation Anglican evaluation

As Reformation Anglicans, we welcome any clarification that protects the uniqueness of Christ’s saving work. The Vatican’s rejection of “Co-redemptrix” is an ecumenically meaningful step. But even though Mater Populi Fidelisrestricts certain titles, it does not alter the foundational teachings that continue to define Roman Catholic dogma: (1) that justification requires cooperation with grace, (2) that faith alone (sola fide in the Reformation sense) is denied, and (3) that Mary continues to be viewed as having an ongoing, participatory role in the distribution of grace. These are precisely the doctrines the Thirty-Nine Articles reject (e.g., Article XI: “we are justified by Faith only”; Article XXII against “Invocation of Saints/Relics” as “vain things”). The Vatican note may refine Marian language, but it leaves untouched the broader soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) and Mariology which we must still critique.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church continues to teach:

“Justification establishes cooperation between God’s grace and man’s freedom. On man’s part it is expressed by the assent of faith… and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit who precedes and preserves his assent.” (CCC §1993)

“Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.” (CCC §969)

The Council of Trent dogmatically declared:

“If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order unto the obtaining of the grace of justification… let him be anathema.” (Decree on Justification, Session VI, Canon IX, 1547)

And regarding Mary, Trent reaffirmed Rome’s teaching on her sinlessness and exalted place in salvation history, later codified into Marian dogmas—culminating in papal definitions such as the Immaculate Conception (Ineffabilis Deus, 1854) and the Assumption (Munificentissimus Deus, 1950). These dogmas, now integral to Roman Catholic theology, rest on the same premise rejected by the Reformation: that grace is mediated through Mary’s ongoing intercession and that she occupies a unique “saving office.”

Thus, while Mater Populi Fidelis softens the language of “Co-redemptrix,” it leaves intact Rome’s doctrinal structure in which Mary’s participation in salvation and ongoing intercession remain essential. From a Reformation Anglican perspective, these teachings go beyond Scripture and obscure the sufficiency of Christ’s once-for-all mediation.

1. Scripture alone is the final authority

The Thirty-Nine Articles teach that Holy Scripture “containeth all things necessary to salvation,” and that the Church “ought not to decree any thing against [Scripture],” nor enforce anything that cannot be “read therein, nor may be proved thereby” (Articles VI and XX). Our appeal is therefore to the Bible as the only infallible rule, with the Church’s teaching ministerial and reformable.

The Vatican note says it aims to “maintain the necessary balance” between Christ’s sole mediation and Mary’s cooperation, but it still constructs that balance out of post-biblical categories that Scripture never commands the Church to confess. The New Testament teaches one Mediator and one propitiatory sacrifice, Jesus Christ the Lord (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 9–10). Titles and roles for Mary may never trespass on those exclusives. The note tries to avoid that trespass; the problem is that it keeps language that points in that direction.

2. Justification by faith only vs. grace-plus-cooperation frameworks

Article XI confesses that we are “accounted righteous before God… only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith,” and that “we are justified by Faith only.” Good works necessarily follow as fruit (Article XII), but they do not justify.

The Vatican note, while not a treatise on justification, tries to ring-fence Mary’s role so she does not appear to supply or transmit justifying grace. That is welcome. Yet the continuing use of “cooperation” language in “the work of salvation” and analogical “mediation” language still invites the faithful to locate spiritual confidence partly in Marian intercession and presence. Scripture directs faith to Christ alone as the ground of peace with God. Any recurring ecclesial habit of multiplying mediators is pastorally unsafe because it pulls trust from the sufficient work of the one High Priest.

3. Prayer, invocation, and the sufficiency of Christ’s priesthood

Article XXII rejects “the Romish Doctrine concerning… Invocation of Saints” as “a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture… repugnant to the Word of God.” Even when the Vatican carefully limits what Mary does, it still commends practices and titles that encourage believers to cultivate a devotional dependence on Mary as an ongoing maternal intercessor. That is precisely what Article XXII warns against. Christ our Mediator, Advocate, and High Priest is sufficient.

It is significant that the note itself denies any “staged outpouring” of grace through intermediaries and insists that “only God… justifies,” with an “immediate union” between Christ and the believer. Those are strong statements. But if that is truly the doctrine, the safest pastoral course is to end the language of Marian “mediation” altogether and direct the conscience solely to Christ’s present priestly work.

4. The Lord’s Supper, sacrifice, and devotion

Anglican teaching receives the sacraments as “effectual signs of grace” (Article XXV), rejects “the sacrifices of Masses” as propitiatory repetitions (Article XXXI), and centers worship on Christ’s once-for-all offering. Marian devotions that develop parallel sacrificial or intercessory instincts, however carefully fenced, are at odds with that center. The safest devotion is biblical devotion: hearing the Word, prayer to the Father through the Son by the Spirit, and thankful reception of the Supper as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

What we affirm, what we deny

We gladly affirm with the Vatican note that:

Jesus Christ alone is Redeemer and Mediator, and only God bestows and justifies by grace (although we would add, “only God bestows and justifies by grace alone.”).

Mary is the blessed mother of our Lord and a model disciple, not a rival savior.

But we must still deny that:

Christians should speak of Mary’s “cooperation in salvation” in ways that go beyond Scripture’s warrants.

The Church should not maintain titles like “Mediatrix,” even analogically, when Scripture never assigns them and when their devotional gravity tends to draw trust away from Christ’s sole priesthood.

Believers should not cultivate practices of invocation that shift their confidence from Christ’s immediate, sufficient intercession.

Article XXII’s judgment remains wise and necessary: “The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics, and also Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.”

Christ Alone: The Heart of Our Hope

For readers seeking biblical clarity on these matters: Christianity isn’t about finding extra helpers to get God’s grace to you. It’s about the Mediator who already came all the way to you. Jesus Christ has finished the work, and he invites you to come to the Father through him, right now. Honor Mary best by doing what she did: “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5). Put your faith, your prayers, and your hope in Jesus only.

Sources

Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Mater Populi Fidelis (4 Nov 2025)

Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§1989–1993, §969, 2001

Council of Trent, Decree on Justification (Session VI, 1547), Canons IX, XI

Council of Trent, Decree on the Invocation, Veneration, and Relics of Saints, Session XXV (1563)

Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (1571) — Articles VI, VIII, XI, XII, XXII, XXV, XXXI

The Book of Common Prayer (1662, International Edition), ed. Samuel L. Bray and Drew Nathaniel Keane

Anglicanism.info: official text and exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles