The Pope of Mary Co-redemptrix

In witnessing to most every aspect of the story of Mary Co-redemptrix, John Paul II, the "Totus Tuus" Pope, exceeded all papal predecessors. The quantity of such testimonies is vast; their depth profound; their love inspired.

As if before a wine cellar full of extraordinary wines, we do not have the opportunity to taste and appreciate every teaching of Pope John Paul concerning his Mother Co-redemptrix. (1) Rather, let us offer some of his most exceptional.

John Paul II and Usages of Co-redemptrix

John Paul II's official and repeated use of the title, Co-redemptrix, quickly remedies the silence at the Second Vatican Council. Within his first years as Christ's Vicar, the Pope invokes the Immaculate Mother as "Co-redemptrix" on repeated occasions and makes whole again the relationship between the doctrine and the title. The title is legitimate, and the Holy Father expresses his conviction about this.

On September 8, 1982, Feast of the Birth of Mary, within the context of a papal address to the sick (who so much need to know the power of co-redemptive suffering), John Paul calls Mary the "Co-redemptrix of humanity" for the first time: "Mary, though conceived and born without the taint of sin, participated in a marvelous way in the sufferings of her divine Son, in order to be Coredemptrix of humanity." (2)

As is well known, John Paul didn't celebrate his own birthday of May 18, but rather his "name day" on November 4, the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, after whom he was named "Karol." On this day in 1984 the Pope once again calls his Mother the "Co-redemptrix" in a general audience:

The next usage of the Co-redemptrix title by John Paul is his most important. At a Marian sanctuary in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on January 31, 1985, he delivers a homily in which he professes the Co-redemptrix title within a penetrating theological commentary of scriptural and conciliar teaching on Coredemption:

The Guayaquil homily by Pope John Paul II cannot be dismissed as either marginal or devoid of doctrinal weight. (5) "Spiritually crucified with her crucified son . . ."; "she united herself with the sacrifice of her Son that led to the foundation of the Church . . ."; "her role as Co-redemptrix did not cease with the glorification of her Son . . ."—all of these declarations constitute sublime confessions to the doctrine of Mary Co-redemptrix. They are packed with doctrinal depth and conviction by the Pope, to whom the believing Catholic heart should assent with obedience, thanksgiving, and awe.

Only a few months later, John Paul confirms once again the legitimacy of Co-redemptrix. On Palm Sunday, during World Youth Day, the he addresses his "favorites," his beloved youth, and invokes the aid of Mary under the title of "the Co-redemptrix":

Again in context of the sick, (this time to volunteers of Lourdes) on March 24, 1990, the Pope calls upon the aid of Mary under the title "Co-redemptrix": "May Mary most holy, Co-redemptrix of the human race beside her Son, always give you courage and confidence!" (7)

In commemorating the sixth centenary of the canonization of St. Bridget of Sweden (October 6, 1991), the John Paul uses "Co-redemptrix" as a title and role understood by this fourteenth century mystic whose revelations did so much to stimulate the medieval development of the doctrine:

Clearly, the Totus Tuus Pope affirms the authenticity of the Co-redemptrix title within the Church, both in the context of doctrinal treatments and in the order of prayerful invocation by the Church.

John Paul II's contribution to the doctrinal advancement of Marian Coredemption is no less stellar. During the Marian month of May in 1983, the he highlights the Immaculate Virgin's association with Christ as the "highest model of cooperation," which is begun with her "yes" to the work of Redemption at the Annunciation:

On the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 5, 1983, Pope John Paul II again underlines Our Lady's active part in the one Redemptive Sacrifice, which is continued in every Mass. In this sacrifice, Mary "offered him and she offered herself to the Father," and as a result, every Mass puts us in intimate communion "with her, the Mother":

In the same year (December 7, 1983), John Paul II elucidates the crucial pre-requisite for the Mother's coredemptive mission as her Immaculate Conception (a truth of doctrinal interconnectedness which merits greater contemporary appreciation): "We must above all note that Mary was created immaculate in order to be better able to act on our behalf. The fullness of grace allowed her to fulfill perfectly her mission of collaboration with the work of salvation; it gave the maximum value to her cooperation in the sacrifice. When Mary presented to the Father her Son nailed to the cross, her painful offering was entirely pure." (11)

In the 1984 Apostolic Letter, Salvifici Doloris (On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering), the Holy Father delivers an extraordinary teaching on the sufferings of Mary at Calvary:

John Paul confirms the participation of the Co-redemptrix not only in the distribution of the graces of Calvary, but also in the obtaining of universal redemptive graces, when he declares that the many and intense sufferings were amassed in such a way that they were a "contribution to the Redemption of all." (13) Moreover his description that the Mother's sufferings at Calvary "reached an intensity which can hardly be imagined from a human point of view," attests to the extreme human limits of suffering for the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who watches and consents to the violent immolation of her innocent son, who is also God, so that humanity may be bought back. Because this unique sharing in the redeeming death of Christ is "supernaturally fruitful for the Redemption of the world," the Immaculate One willingly suffers in love for all mankind.

To the young pilgrims from Vicenza (reminiscent of Pius XI's first use of Co-redemptrix to the Vicenza pilgrims in 1933), (14) John Paul elaborates extemporaneously that with the death of Jesus on the cross, Mary's "very self, her heart, her motherhood," were likewise "crucified" in the greatest "dark night" of human history: ". . . when Jesus died on the cross, her very self, her heart, her motherhood, all was crucified. When I wrote the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater I compared this moment in Mary's life to a dark night, darker than all the nights which the souls of mystics have experienced throughout the Church's history." (15)

The teaching of John Paul's ordinary Magisterium in the 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, acknowledges the lifelong "yes" of the Co-redemptrix given at the Annunciation which reaches its fulfillment at Calvary, where Mary "offers Jesus" so as to "receive and beget" his disciples as her spiritual children: