Overview
- On Nov. 4, the Vatican’s top doctrinal office issued an instruction, approved by Pope Leo XIV, directing Catholics not to call Mary the co‑redeemer or co‑redemptrix.
- The text states that the title can cause confusion and disturb the harmony of Christian truths, reiterating that Jesus alone saved the world.
- While rejecting the contested title, the instruction affirms Mary’s intermediary role, saying that by giving birth to Jesus she “opened the gates of the Redemption.”
- The move formally settles a decades‑long internal dispute that saw John Paul II once support the title before dropping it, while Benedict XVI and Francis opposed it, with Francis calling the idea “foolishness.”
- The ruling establishes authoritative guidance for the church’s 1.4 billion faithful and closes a rare area of disagreement among recent popes.