Co-Redemptrix and MediatrixAnswered

What is the difference between the minimal and maximal views of Mary as Mediatrix of all Graces?

A viewer asks about the main principles of Mariology and Robert's views, which leads him to explain the debated title Mediatrix of all Graces.

Answer

Mariology is the study of Mary, and there are four basic doctrines: the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, the Perpetual Virginity, and her divine motherhood, plus one possible doctrine still being debated, Mediatrix of all Graces. Mediatrix is simply the female Latin term for mediator; do not let it trick you. The debate is between a minimal and a maximal view. The minimal view is that Mary is a conduit of graces because she bore Christ; without her bearing him we would have no Savior, and because the New Testament makes it a decision she freely had to make, saying yes when she could have used her free will to decline without sin, that merits the title. The maximal view says it is much more: that every grace God gives, actual or sanctifying, presently has to go through Mary. That is where the objections come, because it makes Mary almost a semi-god, a conduit for all divine grace, and it raises the natural question of why every grace has to go through her rather than coming directly from God through the channels of the Church. There is no scriptural backing for the maximal view and hardly any patristic or medieval basis; St. Alphonsus Liguori may be the chief exception. Personally I do not see it being dogmatized by the Church at all, but that is just my opinion.

Dr. Robert Sungenis

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