The Four Marian Dogmas and Mater Populi Fidelis

In my previous article on Mater Populi Fidelis, I endeavored to present a fair, balanced and objective discussion of this most recent Vatican pronouncement on Marian titles.  In short, the Dicastery for the Congregation of the Faith stated that it is inappropriate to use the title Co-Redemptrix when referring to Our Blessed Mother and expressed concerns about the title Mediatrix of All Graces.  The Dicastery did not reject Mary and actually re-affirmed a number of her titles, most especially “Mother of God.”

 
My article has generated a very large amount of interest.  As of this writing, over 600 people had read my article and over 300 people commented on it on Facebook.  My thanks to everyone who read my article.  

 
Originally I was going to follow up my Mater Populi Fidelis article with my opinion on the use of the Co-Redemptrix title for Our Blessed Mother.  Subsequently I decided that I needed an intermediate step before I posted my opinion article.   This article is thus the intermediate step.  

 
The Catholic Church offers four dogmas about Our Blessed Mother, ie. the four Marian Dogmas. A Dogma is a truth revealed by God that is proclaimed by the Church and binding upon the faithful.    Herein I will offer a brief explanation of each of the four Marian Dogmas.  Then I will explain why a discussion of these dogmas is relevant to our ongoing discussion about Mater Populi Fidelis.  

 
The four Marian Dogmas are:  1)  Mary the Mother of God (Theotokos); 2) Mary’s Perpetual Virginity; 3) the Immaculate Conception; and 4) the Assumption.  Each of these dogmas has been enacted by the Church either by a Church Council or by Papal pronouncement.   

 
 1.  Mary the Mother of God (Theotokos)
Jesus the Son of God and the Second Divine Person of the Trinitarian God was both God and man and he was born into the world by Mary.  When Mary goes to visit Saint Elizabeth, Saint Elizabeth greets her in astonishment, saying, “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  (Luke 1:43).  Thus the Church proclaims that Mary is the Mother of God.  This was established by the Council of Ephesus in A.D. 431 and confirmed by the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451. 

 
2.   Mary’s Perpetual Virginity

Mary conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and remained a virgin even after giving birth to Jesus. Thus her virginity remains in perpetuity.  This was declared at the Lateran Council of 649 and reiterated by the Second Vatican Council.  

3.  The Immaculate Conception

On 8 December 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX issued the Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus which stated "that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege from Almighty God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, was kept free of every stain of original sin.”  Four years later, Our Blessed Mother identified herself as “the Immaculate Conception” during one of her appearances to Saint Bernadette in Lourdes, France.  Four centuries before that, the Franciscan Blessed John Duns Scotus clearly explained the Immaculate Conception of Mary.  Several preceding popes also issued documents affirming the Immaculate Conception, most notably Pope Alexander VII in the 17th Century and Pope Clement XI in the early 18th Century. 

 
4.  The Assumption

In his 1 November 1950 encyclical Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII declared “"Mary, Immaculate Mother of God ever Virgin, after finishing the course of her life on earth, was taken up in body and soul to heavenly glory." 

For further information about the four Marian Dogmas, I refer you to the following:  

 
Catholic News Agency’s excellent article https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource/55423/the-four-marian-dogmas  

 
Terri Thomas’s “What Do Catholics Believe about The Assumption of Mary and Other Marian Dogmas” also posted on Catholic 365 https://www.catholic365.com/article/42044/what-do-catholics-believe-about-the-assumption-of-mary-and-other-marian-dogmas.html  

 
D. D. Emmons’s “Marian dogmas: Ancient beliefs of the Church” posted on Our Sunday Visitor’s website at https://www.oursundayvisitor.com/marian-dogmas-ancient-beliefs-of-the-church/  

 
What do these four Marian Dogmas have to do with Mater Populi Fidelis?  Last week’s pronouncement deals with the Marian titles of Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces.  Both of these titles are components of a proposed fifth Marian Dogma.  As I wrote in my previous article, the idea of a fifth Marian Dogma was advanced by the alleged “Our Lady of All Nations” apparitions in the Netherlands in the 1940s and 1950s.  Furthermore, this apparition was declared to be non-supernatural “constat de non supernaturalitate” by the Vatican in May 1974 with the approval of Pope Saint Paul VI, though this declaration was not publicly announced until last year and re-affirmed by the Dicastery at that same time.  

 
See https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-07/pope-paul-vi-ddf-our-lady-nations-amsterdam-false.html  and 

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-07/pope-paul-vi-ddf-our-lady-nations-amsterdam-false.html  

 
As you can see, whether or not the titles Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces are appropriate titles for Our Blessed Mother has serious implications for the proposed fifth Marian Dogma.  After having rejected the Our Lady of All Nations apparitions back in 1974 and again last year and now having issued Mater Populi Fidelis on the use of Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces, the Vatican has placed significant obstacles in the path of those advocating for the fifth Marian Dogma. 

 
Mater Populi Fidelis did not condemn the proposed fifth Marian Dogma but it certainly makes it much more difficult for it to come to fruition.