International Marian Association Letter to Cardinal Mueller 31 May 2017 Eminence, Gerhard Cardinal Müller Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine on Faith Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11 00193 Roma, Italy Your Eminence: We, Executive Members of the International Marian Association, which consti- tutes over 100 theologians, cardinals, bishops, clergy, religious and lay leaders from 5 continents, wish to, first of all, thank you for the many excellent and courageous articulations and defenses of our holy Catholic Faith, as contained in your recently released, The Cardinal Müller Report. At the same time, we are obliged to express to you our grave concern regarding your comment from the text when you state: “(for example, the Church … does not call her [Mary] “co-redeemer,” because the only Redeemer is Christ, and she herself has been redeemed sublimiore modo, as Lumen Gentium [n. 53] says, and serves this redemption wrought exclusively by Christ… (p. 133). You unfortunately refer to this term as an example of false exaggeration: “falsely exaggerating per excessum, attributing to the Virgin what is not attributable to her” (Ibid.). Your Eminence, in making this statement, albeit as a private theologian since a public interview carries no authoritative or magisterial status, you have publicly stated: 1) a theologically and historically erroneous position, since the Church undeni- ably has and does call Mary a co-redeemer; and 2) a position which, in itself, materially dissents from the repeated and authoritative teachings of the Papal Magisterium, the historical teachings from your own Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (Holy Office)and other Vatican Congregations; the pre- and post-conciliar teachings of the Magisterium as expressed through numerous cardinals, bishops and national episcopal conferences; teachings of the broader Church, inclusive of multiple can- onized saints and blessed who all do, in fact, assent to and theologically expand upon the authentic Magisterial teachings of the Church concerning Mary as a co- redeemer. 3 4 Ecce Mater Tua For clear and undeniable manifestations of the Church’s repeated teach- ings of the Papal Magisterium on the doctrine of Marian Coredemption and uses of the term, “Co-redemptrix,” we cite the following examples: a. The pontificate of Pope St. Pius X, during which the Congregation of Rites approved a prayer including “Co-redemptrix” (May 13, 1908, ASS, 1, 1908, p. 409); and the Holy Office granting indulgences to prayers calling Mary “Co-redemptrix “(AAS 5, 1913, p. 364; AAS 6, 1914, p. 108). b. The pontificate of Pope Benedict XV, where he teaches in his 1918 apos- tolic letter, Inter Sodalicia: “we may rightly say that Mary redeemed the human together with Christ” (AAS 10, p. 181-2). c. The pontificate of Pius XI, where, on three separate occasions, Pius XI explicitly uses the term, “Co-redemptrix, “ and on one occasion defends the Co-redemptrix title as theologically legitimate in light of Our Lady’s unique role in the Incarnation and the Redemption (L’Osservatore Romano, Dec. 1, 1933; L’Osservatore Romano, March 25, 1934, p. 1; L’Osservatore Romano, April 29- 30, 1935, p. 1). d. The pontificate of Pius XII, who without using the term, teaches the doc- trine of Marian Coredemption (Mystici Corporis, 1943, AAS, 35, 1943,p. 247; May 13, 1946, AAS, 38, p. 266; Encyclical, Ad Caeli Reginam, AAS 46, 1954, p. 635. e. Explicit doctrinal treatment of Marian Coredemption in the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 58; 61; Also note praenotanda reference of Coredemptrix term as being “absolutely true in itself” (Acta Synodalia Sacrosancti Concilii Oecumenici Vaticani II, Volumen I, Periodus Prima, Pars IV [Vatican City, 1971], p. 99). f. The pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II, during which Pope St. John Paul II explicitly uses the Co-redemptrix term on at least 6 different oc- casions (cf. Allocution to the Sick, September 8, 1982, Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, Vol 3, 1982, 404; General Audience, December 10, 1982, L’Osservatore Ro- mano, English ed., Dec. 18, 1982, p. 2; General Audience, Nov. 4, 1984, L’Osservatore Romano, English ed., Nov. 12, 1984, p. 1; Homily at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Alborada, Guayaquil, Ecuador, Jan. 31, 1985, L’Osservatore Romano, English ed., March 11, 1985; World Youth Day Allocution, May 31, 1985, L’Osservatore Romano, English ed., April 9, 1985, p. 12; Allocution to the Volun- teers for the Sick at Lourdes, March 24, 1990, Insegnamenti, XIII/1, 1990, 743:1; Allocution on Sixth Centenary Canonization of St. Brigid of Sweden, October 6, 1991, L’Osservatore Romano, English ed., October 14, 1991, p. 4.). Ecce Mater Tua 5 g. Pope St. John Paul II repeatedly teaches Mary’s active role in the obtaining of the grace of Redemption with and under Jesus Christ, for example: The collaboration of Christians in salvation takes place after the Calvary event, whose fruits they endeavor to spread by prayer and sacrifice. Mary, instead, cooperated in the event itself and in the role of mother; thus her cooperation embraces the whole of Christ’s saving work. She alone was associated in this way with the redemptive sacrifice that merited the salvation of all man- kind. In union with Christ and in submission to him, she col- laborated in obtaining the graces of salvation for all hu- manity (Pope St. John Paul II, “Cooperator in the Redemption” Audience, April 7, 1997, L’Osservatore Romano, English edition, April 16, 1997, p. 7; cf. also Salvific Doloris, 1984 n. 25; Papal Au- dience, April 2, 1997 Papal Audience, October 25, 1995). For Cardinals, Bishops, and Bishop Conferences as an authentic colle- gial manifestation of the Church’s Magisterium, who “call Mary a co- redeemer” and/or taught Marian Coredemption, we cite: a. 190 cardinals and bishops from 1900 to 1950 who explicitly taught the doctrine that Mary was the “Coredemptrix of the human race” (Carol, De Cor- redemptione Beatae Virginis Mariae, Civitas Vaticana, 1950, p. 599). b. 309 cardinals and bishops from 1900 to 1950 who approved prayers or teachings of Marian Coredemption (Carol, De Corredemptione Beatae Virginis Mariae, 619.). c. March, 1943 Dutch Bishops Conference Consecration, which conse- crated the Netherlands to Mary as “Co-redemptrix.” d. November 26, 1951 Formal Petition of Cardinal Arteaga y Betancourt and entire Hierarchy of Cuba for the Dogmatic Definition of Marian Coredemption e. Dec. 8, 1959 –Marian Coredemption universally accepted as “certa et communissima doctrina” Fr. C. Balic, O.F.M., Advisor to Holy Office, Vat- ican II Mariological Peritis, major theological contributor to Lumen Gentium, Ch. 8; and Founder and President of the International Marian Pontifical Acad- emy, Acta, 1959 Lourdes Mariological Congress: Cooperatio B. V. Mariae Et Ec- clesiae Ad Christi Redemptionem, Vol. IV, Praefatio, p. VII: Admissa autem ab omnibus tamquam certa et communissima doctrina, beatissimam Virginem prorsus singularem et unicum locum tenere in oeconomia redemptionis, quippe quae sensu 6 Ecce Mater Tua vero, reali, proprio, cooperate sit ad nostrum redemptionem obi- ectivam, et nunc e caelo cooperetur in applicandis fructibus istius redemptionis, ulterius ipsamet natura istius cooperationis perscrutata est tum ad mentem traditionis christianae, tum ra- tionis theologicae et Magisterii ecclesiastici. f. 57 Post-conciliar Cardinals (inclusive of 2 Papal theologians) who have specifically taught the doctrinal role of Mary as a “Co-redemptrix”and/or sup- ported the Co-redemptrix title: José Francisco Cardinal Robles Ortega, Ernes- to Cardinal Corripio Ahumada, Juan Cardinal Carlos Aramburu, Paulo Evaris- to Cardinal Arns, Luis Cardinal Aponte Martínez, Miguel Cardinal Obando Bravo, Guiseppe Cardinal Caprio, John Cardinal Carberry, M. Luigi Cardinal Ciappi, Albert Cardinal Decourtray, Bernardino Echeverría Ruiz, Vincenzo Cardinal Fagiolo, Jose Cardinal Freire Falcao, Juan Francisco Cardinal Fresno, Edouard Cardinal Gagnon, Jozef Cardinal Glemp, Hans Hermann Cardinal Groër, Henryk Roman Cardinal Gulbinowicz, Franjo Cardinal Kuharic, José Alí Cardinal Lebrún Moratinos, Cardinal Lyázuri Ricketts, Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger, Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga, John Cardinal O’Connor, Silvio Car- dinal Oddi, Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga, Antony Cardinal Padiyara, Opilio Cardinal Rossi, Pietro Cardinal Palazzini, Raúl Francisco Cardinal Pri- matesta, Antonio Cardinal Ribeiro, Aurelio Cardinal Sabattani, Juan Cardinal Sandoval Iñiguez, Alexyre Cardinal José María dos Santos, Jaime Cardinal Sin, Alphonse Cardinal Stickler, Joseph Cardinal Satowaki, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Adolfo Antonio Cardinal Suárez Rivera, Christian Cardinal Tumi, Paulos Cardinal Tzadua, Corrado Cardinal Ursi, Augusto Cardinal Vargas Al- zamora, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, Aloíso Lorscheider, Darío Catrillón Hoyos, Juan Landázuri Ricketts, Antonio José González Zumárraga, Joao Antonio da Silva Sariva, Geraldo Majella Agnelo; Georges Cardinal Cottier g. 573 Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops from 1993 to 2017 who have petitioned the Holy See for the solemn definition of Mary as “Co-redemptrix” (see Attachment A) From Canonized Saints and Blesseds of the 20 and 21st century who have explicitly “called Mary a co-redeemer,” we cite: Bl. Bartolo Longo; Bl. Luigi Orione; Bl. Idlephonse Cardinal Schuster; Bl. James Alberione; St. Gemma Galga- ni; St. Francis Xavier Cabrini; St. Maximilian Kolbe; St. Teresa Benedicta; St. Leo- pold Mandic; St. José Maria Escriva; Pope St. John Paul II; St. Teresa of Calcutta (cf. With Jesus: The Story of Mary