Vatican Clarifies: Jesus Alone Saved Humanity, Mary Not "Co-Redeemer"

Vatican City:

The Vatican has clarified that while Mary may have offered wisdom to her son Jesus, she did not participate in the salvation of humanity from damnation, according to an official declaration issued on Tuesday.

In a recently approved decree by Pope Leo, the Vatican's principal doctrinal authority has directed the world's 1.4 billion Catholic followers to refrain from referring to the Virgin Mary as the "co-redeemer" of humanity.

The instruction definitively states that Jesus alone accomplished the world's redemption, thereby resolving an internal theological debate that has perplexed Church leadership for decades and even caused rare public disagreement among recent pontiffs.

"It would not be appropriate to use the title 'co-redemptrix'," the document explicitly states. "This title... (can) create confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith."

Catholic doctrine holds that Jesus redeemed humanity through his crucifixion and death. For centuries, theological scholars within the Church have debated whether Mary, venerated by Catholics and many Christians as the Mother of God, played a collaborative role in humanity's salvation.

The late Pope Francis strongly opposed attributing the title "co-redeemer" to Mary, once describing the concept as "foolishness."

"She never wanted to take anything for herself from her son," Francis, who passed away in April, stated in 2019.

Pope Benedict XVI, Francis' predecessor, similarly opposed this designation. However, Pope John Paul II had previously supported it, though he ceased using the title publicly in the mid-1990s after the doctrinal office began expressing reservations.

The Vatican's new instruction emphasizes Mary's significant role as an intermediary between God and humanity. By giving birth to Jesus, she "opened the gates of the Redemption that all humanity had awaited," according to the document.

The Bible records Mary's response to the angel announcing her pregnancy as simply: "Let it be."