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Traditional Catholic Faith => Crisis in the Church => Topic started by: BaldwinIV on November 09, 2025, 05:09:38 PM

Title: Why Protestants Have Horror of Mary's Mediation - by Dom João da Cruz O.S.B.
Post by: BaldwinIV on November 09, 2025, 05:09:38 PM

An examination of the philosophical and theological roots of Protestant opposition to Marian mediation, following a controversial Vatican note published November 4, 2025

The Controversial Vatican Note

On Tuesday, November 4, 2025, the Catholic world received with consternation an official note published by the Vatican, stating that Our Lady should not, cannot, or ought not be called Co-Redemptrix of the human race, nor Mediatrix of all graces. The text is lengthy, and one of its principal characteristics is its contradictory, self-contradictory ambiguity.

This ambiguity is a very common characteristic of modernist and neo-modernist docuмents and speeches—a soft language, a deliberate and obvious self-contradiction, an architected ambiguity designed to produce erroneous or heretical ideas in a sneaky, implicit, hidden, veiled, cunning, demonic manner.

The docuмent affirms that Our Lady cooperated in a singular way in the work of redemption, but at the same time denies this in other passages. This is the great problem: this obvious and deliberate self-contradiction that generates an ambiguity from which one can later draw conclusions without being accused of heresy, since the docuмent says the opposite as well.

Despite initially suggesting that Our Lady is not Mediatrix of all graces nor Co-Redemptrix of the human race, the docuмent later states that these terms of universal mediatrix and co-redemptrix of the human race can be understood in the Catholic sense, as they have always been understood—in the sense of co-mediation, in the sense of co-redemption. Whoever says "co" indicates cooperation in redemption, cooperation in mediation. It is clear, evident to any Catholic that Our Lady is not a mediator apart from Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is obvious that Our Lady did not redeem us in a manner parallel to Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Ecuмenical Motivation

The reason, the motor, the objective behind this note is explicitly ecuмenical. These reasons shock our separated brethren, shock the Protestants. These ecuмenical reasons for this supposed inconvenience of using these terms are made explicit in the presentation by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernandes Túto, in the note itself, and in the news article presenting this note published on the Vatican's official news site, Vatican News.

The Cardinal says all this is part of an ecuмenical effort. Within the note itself, it states that the Second Vatican Council avoided using the term Co-Redemptrix for ecuмenical reasons. In the news article on the Vatican's news site, this is made even more explicit. They plant ambiguity in the docuмent so it won't be too blatant, too evident, too clear, and then later on the website, for example, they draw conclusions that aren't clearly stated in the docuмent itself.

Why Do Protestants Oppose Universal Mediation?

Our starting point is this: Why do Protestants oppose the universal mediation of Mary? Why do Protestants have horror of this? What is the theological reason? What theological argument do they have against this? What lies behind this opposition to Mary's mediation?

Contrary to what we might think at first glance, the reasons are not purely biblical. We might think Protestants oppose Mary's mediation because it's not in the Bible, or rather, because the name "universal mediation" isn't in the Bible. Protestants tend to be extremely attached to names in the sense that if that name isn't in the Bible, then that thing isn't in the Bible—which is completely unreasonable, since we believe, for example, in the dogma of the Most Holy Trinity, a dogma that Protestants also believe. Yet the term "Most Holy Trinity" is not in Sacred Scripture.

We have the reality—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—but the term was coined theologically later, just like other terms such as "consubstantial with the Father" and "transubstantiation" (which Protestants deny). The reality is in revelation, whether in Scripture or Tradition, but the term was not. So that theologians over the centuries could give names to these realities.

We could think that Protestants oppose Mary's mediation because the name "mediation of Mary" is not in Scripture. Indeed, the term "mediation" in Scripture appears uniquely in relation to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Paul says "our only mediator, Jesus Christ."

Inability to Comprehend Secondary Causality

The reasons go beyond purely biblical reasons. There is a philosophical reason behind all this: the intellectual incapacity that Protestants have to comprehend the scholastic notion of secondary cause.
Understanding Secondary Causality

For Protestants, for Protestant theology, supernatural realities can only have one cause. They cannot have a secondary cause; the same effect can only have one cause. If God is the first cause, God is the only cause. To place another cause there would be to make God insufficient or to place a cause parallel to God.

For example, to say that Our Lady is Mediatrix of all graces would be, for them, to say: "Jesus Christ is the only mediator, but Our Lady is also [mediator] of all graces." So you choose whether you'll be mediated by Jesus or by Mary. This clearly denotes an incapacity to comprehend the notion of secondary cause.

What is secondary causality?

God is the first cause, Creator of everything that exists, of all and everyone. Principle without principle. In His perfection, He chooses to act and distribute His grace through instruments—animated or inanimate, human beings or objects like water in baptism, for example: people, sacraments, rites. Free will itself is an instrument of God's grace.

Protestantism's theological opposition to Catholic doctrine is largely because of this difficulty they have, this intellectual incapacity to comprehend that the same effect can have various causes and that if God is the first cause of everything, this doesn't prevent there from being secondary, subordinate causes.

Consequences in Protestant Theology

1. No Free Will

The first target of Protestant doctrine is free will, or man's capacity to be a cause of his own salvation—because we are also a cause of our own salvation.

Luther believed that after the fall of our first parents through original sin, the human will was no longer free, became enslaved, totally enslaved to sin. That's why he said: "Sin boldly, but believe more boldly still."

The logic is this: if God is the only cause, if God is the first cause (which for them is the only one) of grace, then the human will cannot also be a cause of grace. Therefore, the logical consequence is that man is totally passive in his salvation, in his sanctification, in his justification. He does not collaborate with this. He is totally passive.

Result: Sola Gratia (Grace alone)

2. No Good Works

If there is no possibility of secondary causality in anything, then the human will cannot cooperate. If the will cannot cooperate, then good works cannot be meritorious for salvation.

Hence comes the Protestant incapacity to understand that faith saves, but faith vivified by works, or works vivified by faith. It's not enough to believe; one must practice the works of faith. Good works cannot be meritorious for salvation or for the increase of grace. They are only the fruit of justification, not a cause of justification, not a co-cause, not a cause of increase in sanctification or grace.

Justification occurs by faith alone (sola fide). So if in the first point—free will—it's not a secondary cause of salvation, then sola gratia. And now works cannot be meritorious for salvation: sola fide.

Result: Sola Fide (Faith alone)

3. No Mediation of the Saints

The same logic applies to Mary's mediation and the saints' mediation. For Protestants, there's no difference. Neither Mary nor the saints can be our mediators.

Luther saw the use of saints as intercessors—that is, as secondary causes—as a usurpation of Christ's own office as first cause and only mediator, citing Saint Paul who says that Our Lord Jesus Christ is our only mediator.

Luther feared that the people's confidence would be diverted from Christ to Mary. He was like a scrupulous devotee who had that fear that Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort describes of the scrupulous devotee who fears honoring Mary diminishes Christ.

Result: Solus Christus (Christ alone)

4. Sacraments and Clergy

If Mary cannot be a cause, the sacraments also lose their efficacy ex opere operato. As Catholic theology teaches, the sacraments operate ex opere operato—by the work performed, not depending on the merits of the one performing the work.

For example, a schismatic priest who has valid ordination and later went into schism—the Mass he celebrates is valid, the sacrament occurs. It may be illicit to attend his Mass, but the sacrament occurs there and the bread becomes the Body of Christ. Why? Because the sacraments operate ex opere operato, by the works themselves performed, independent of the personal merits of the one performing them.

For Luther (and especially Calvin), the sacraments become mere signs or seals—not channels of grace. The sacraments are not, so to speak, a channel through which grace passes to us. No, the sacraments are only a seal that God places on the soul to whom He has already granted His grace.

The same applies not only to sacraments but to the ministerial priesthood itself. The priest as secondary cause of Christ is replaced by the universal priesthood of the faithful. So instead of having a mediator who is the priest, we have everyone as mediators—which is totally senseless, because a priest, by definition, is a mediator between God and men.

To speak of the universal priesthood of the faithful is totally absurd in its own terms, since who will mediate between whom? A mediator, by definition, is a third party between two. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our mediator because, being God and man, He mediates man with God, God with man.

Therefore, Our Lady is our mediatrix, the saints are our mediators, priests are our mediators of God. But how can we speak of ourselves as mediators? Mediators between us and whom? We cannot be mediators unless perhaps with animals—which is a bit strange, to say the least.

The Thomistic Refutation

Thomists, like Saint Thomas Aquinas, argue the opposite: God requires secondary causes to manifest His perfection. If God did everything alone, He would not be demonstrating His glory fully.

Saint Thomas says it is a perfection of governance to govern through sub-governors, so to speak. He says this in other terms, but this is proper to a perfect governor—not to govern alone, but to govern with hierarchy below him.

Key Thomistic Principles

A perfect cause grants to its effects not only being, but also the power to cause. To give caused beings the power to also cause, according to their measure.

God's providence is ordered. He governs the universe mediately (not immediately). Mediately means to govern through other agents. He uses the sun to illuminate, fire to heat, and yes, man to preach and cooperate.

The law of cause and effect is a reflection of divine wisdom. The great failure in Protestant perception is that they see the secondary cause—Mary, works, free will, saints, sacraments—as a competitor of the first cause. Catholicism, on the contrary, sees it as a subordinate cooperator.

Mary: The Apex of Secondary Causality

Mary is the apex of secondary cause. She is the human instrument that cooperated like no one else in the work of redemption accomplished by Our Lord Jesus Christ, the first cause.

Mary's mediation does not substitute Christ's. It is the maximum participation. We all participate, we can participate in Christ's mediation—insofar as we obtain through our prayers someone's conversion, insofar as we preach, pray for someone, a priest administers the sacraments. There are various degrees of participation in mediation and in the work of redemption.

But Mary participated maximally, in the maximum degree, in the mediation of Our Lord Jesus Christ and in the work of redemption. Her intercession is efficacious, evidently, only because it flows from the unique merit of her Son, from Christ's merits.

Mary's merits come from, flow from Christ's merits, and her grace comes from Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is stated by Pope Pius IX himself in the encyclical Ineffabilis Deus, the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, in which he says that Our Lady was preserved from original sin "intuitu meritorum Christi"—that is, in view of Christ's merits that would come in the future.

The Real Debate

Luther and Protestant theology reject Mary's mediation not because of an isolated Bible verse, but because their theological system is built upon the rejection of the real efficacy of secondary causes. Mary is the greatest example of a secondary cause—a creature that cooperates fully and freely with God's grace.

The debate between Catholicism and Protestantism, therefore, is not only about Mary, nor only about the Bible, but about how God chooses to govern the universe. He chooses to act through you, through the sacraments, through the priest, the clergy, the bishops, the pope, through the saints, through you in the sense of your free will that cooperates with grace, of your works that cooperate with grace, that act in accordance with grace, that act in conformity with faith.

He chooses to act through all these means for His greater glory.

The Mass of Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces (May 31)

At the beginning of the 20th century, Pope Benedict XV approved a Mass in honor of Our Lady as Mediatrix of all graces—the Mass of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces, celebrated on May 31. This Mass was approved and later included in Brazil's proper calendar.

Later, for mysterious reasons, it was suppressed and is no longer in the new calendar. However, various congregations, various religious orders, and certain dioceses have conserved it in their proper diocesan or religious order calendar.

Liturgical Texts of the Mass

Introit (Hebrews 4:16): "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help."

Collect Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator with the Father, who established the Blessed Virgin Mary, Your Mother and ours, as mediatrix, grant benignly to all who approach You through Mary's intercession, asking for mercy, the grace to rejoice in obtaining the same."
The prayer is very clear about Mary's mediation, literally using the term "mediatrix."

Epistle (Isaiah 55): A messianic prophecy applied to Our Lady as the source of grace, with words accommodated to Mary's lips: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters... Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live."

Gradual (Ecclesiasticus 24:25-26): "In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. Pass over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits."

Alleluia: "Alleluia! Hail, Mother of mercy, Mother of hope and grace, O Mary, alleluia!"

Gospel (John 19:25-27): The scene at Calvary where Jesus entrusts Mary to John and John to Mary: "Woman, behold thy son... Behold thy mother." This is the act of mediation itself.
Notably, the Vatican note cites and comments on this Gospel but pretends not to see any sign of Mary's mediation or co-redemption there. It addresses only her spiritual motherhood over the faithful—a treacherous, demonic approach to make the rejection of her mediation acceptable.

Offertory (adapted from Jeremiah 18:20): "Remember, O Virgin Mother, to speak well of us in the presence of God, thus delivering us from His indignation."

Secret Prayer: "Through the intercession of Your Mother and our mediatrix, may the offering of these hosts obtain for us, Lord, aided by Your grace, eternal glory."

Communion: "You are truly admirable, O Mary, and full of grace is your face."

Postcommunion: "Protect us, Lord, through Mary, Your Mother and our mediatrix, and may the grace increased by You in this divine commerce be for us a pledge of glory."

Conclusion: Understanding the Protestant Error

The difficulty Protestants have, the reason why Protestants have horror of Mary's mediation, is that they understand Mary's mediation not as subordinate cooperation but as parallel to Christ's mediation.

They see it as:

This would indeed be absurd and heretical.

They have a cognitive, intellectual incapacity to comprehend that:

It's simple. The Protestant error is rooted in their philosophical inability to grasp secondary causality—a fundamental concept that underlies not just Marian doctrine, but the entire Catholic understanding of grace, sacraments, free will, and salvation itself.

Until next time. God bless you all. Hail Mary!

-- Dom João

Original video (Portuguese):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhmb5maIUTo