Pope Leo has formally directed Catholics to stop referring to the Virgin Mary as “co-redeemer” alongside Jesus Christ.
A new decree from the Vatican’s doctrinal office, personally approved by the pontiff, affirms that salvation came solely through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, not through a shared act with his mother.
The decree settles a centuries-old theological debate that has divided popes and scholars. It states that while Mary’s role in giving birth to Jesus paved the way for humanity’s redemption, she cannot be called “co-redeemer” or “co-redemptrix.”
The Vatican explained that the title “creates confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith,” warning it risks overshadowing the exclusive role of Christ.
Past popes have also struggled with the terminology. The late Pope Francis dismissed the title in 2019 as “foolishness,” insisting that Mary “never wanted to take anything for herself from her son.”
His predecessor, Benedict XVI, also rejected the idea.
But John Paul II, who reigned from 1978 to 2005, was once a leading proponent before quietly abandoning the term amid mounting scepticism in the mid-1990s.
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, said the decree was issued in response to growing confusion among the faithful.
He noted that modern “Marian reflection groups, publications, and new devotions”—many spreading widely on social media—had begun promoting unapproved ideas about Mary’s role in redemption.
Vatican reporter Iacopo Scaramuzzi told La Repubblica that the move was intended to “put the brakes on the cult of the Madonna.”
He said the Church now seeks to control a devotion that has grown popular among conservative Catholics online.
The ruling comes a year after the Vatican tightened scrutiny over alleged supernatural phenomena, including reported apparitions of Mary.
Pope Francis had cautioned that such sightings were “not always real,” referencing a case where a woman near Rome claimed a statue of the Virgin shed tears of blood—an incident that drew thousands of pilgrims.
“When Marian devotion becomes too self-centred, it’s not good,” the late pope had said.
Vatican analyst Robert Mickens described the latest decree as a relief for reformist Catholics. “Mary’s considered the most exalted of all human creatures, but she’s not semi-divine,” he noted.
The declaration marks a new chapter in Rome’s effort to purify Catholic devotion and reassert the centrality of Christ’s sacrifice. But it also raises a question that will echo through churches and shrines worldwide: how far should faith in Mary go before it begins to blur into worship?
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