A Letter from Dr. Mark Miravalle Regarding Pope Leo XIV and a Fifth Marian Dogma

The following text is from a letter written by Dr. Mark Miravalle - International President of Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici - regarding the recent election of Pope Leo XIV and a fifth Marian dogma.

Download the Original Letter

May 13, 2025

Our Lady of Fatima

Dear Friends in Jesus and Mary:

It is with such great joy that we welcome our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV!  In the first days of his papacy, Pope Leo has already manifested his deep and generous love of our Lady.  

Among his first words as Pope on May 8 (also the feast of Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces for various orders), Leo XIV stated: “Today is the day of the Prayer of Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii.  Our Mother Mary always wants to walk at our side, to remain close to us, to help us with her intercession and her love.  So, I would like to pray together with you.  Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole Church, for peace in the world, and let us ask Mary, our Mother, for this special grace.” He then led all in the praying of the “Hail Mary.”

The following day, May 9, during his first Mass as Roman pontiff before the college of cardinals, Pope Leo spoke of the martyrdom of St. Ignatius of Antioch as a model for true authority in service, of making oneself small for Christ. He then ended his homily with “May God grant me this grace, today and always, through the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church."

On Saturday, May 10, Pope Leo privately visited two Marian shrines, Our Lady of Good Counsel Shrine in Genazzano (30 miles outside of Rome) and St. Mary Major’s Basilica.  During his first visit, Pope Leo wrote in the Our Lady of Good Counsel guestbook: “Still in the first days of the pontificate, I felt the duty and a deep longing to approach Genazzano, the shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel, who, throughout my life, has accompanied me with her maternal presence, with her wisdom, and the example of her love for her son who is always the center of my faith, the Way, truth and life. Thank you, Mother, for your help - accompany me in this new mission.”  To the cheering of the crowds, “Viva Il Papa” (long live the Pope) during his exit, Pope Leo responded, “Viva Maria!”

During his first Regina Caeli (“Queen of Heaven”) address on Sunday, May 11, Pope Leo himself led the singing of the “Regina.Caeli” When referring to wars in Ukraine, Gaza, India and Pakistan, the Holy Father stated, “I entrust this heartfelt appeal to the Queen of Peace, so that she may present it to the Lord Jesus to obtain for us the miracle of peace.”  Pope Leo then ended his message with: “May the Virgin Mary, whose entire life was a response to the Lord’s call, always accompany us in following Jesus.”

This truly extraordinary testimony by Pope Leo XIV to the truth of Mary as the world’s Spiritual Mother gives great encouragement for a potential solemn papal definition or “dogma” of Mary as the Spiritual Mother of humanity.

Over 100 years ago in 1915, the great Belgian Cardinal Desire Mercier began an international Catholic movement of prayer and petition to the Holy Father for a solemn papal definition of Mary as Spiritual Mother of humanity, inclusive of her subordinate human and maternal role with Jesus in the Redemption, and her subsequent role as the Mediatrix of all graces of Redemption. In the first years of this movement, hundreds of bishops, thousands of priests and religious, and hundreds of thousands of the faithful sent petitions to the popes for this great dogmatic crowning for Our Lady. Since 1993, an additional 700 cardinals and bishops have petitioned recent popes for this fifth Marian Dogma, joined by approximately 8 million petitions from 185 countries, as a true manifestation of the sensus fidelium (common consensus of the faithful).

The great Marian teachings of Pope Leo XIII, with whom our new Holy Father, Leo XIV has so strongly associated himself, provides the Mariological foundation for a potential fifth Marian dogma. For example, Leo XIII was the first pope to approve prayers which refer to Mary as “Co-redemptrix of the world” (“Corredentrice  del Mondo”, July 18, 1885, ASS, v. 18, p. 92-93). Leo XIII further taught that Mary “who had been the cooperatrix in the sacrament of man’s Redemption, would likewise be the cooperatrix in the dispensation of the graces deriving from it” (Encyclical, Adjutricem populi, 1895, ASS v. 28, p. 130).  Moreover, Leo XIII repeatedly and firmly taught that Our Lady is the Mediatrix of all graces, referring to her as “treasurer of our peace with God and dispenser of all heavenly graces” (Encyclical, Superiore Anno, 1884); and emphatically declared: “It is right to say that nothing at  all of the immense treasury of every grace which the Lord accumulated…nothing is imparted to us except through Mary…Mary is our glorious intermediary, she is the powerful Mother of the omnipotent God” (Encyclical, Octobri mense, 1891).

Pope Leo XIV rightly prayed for a “miracle of peace” for Ukraine, Gaza, India, Pakistan, and so many other areas of conflict; and has also referred to a World War III by piecemeal which is already beginning globally. We believe that this miracle of peace will come only through the solemn papal recognition of Our Lady’s intercession as the world’s Spiritual Mother. Only when our Mother has been officially recognized for her God-given coredemptive and intercessory roles  for the world can she then completely activate and bring to full power her motherly intercession for all humanity. 

We, therefore, invite you to join us in prayer and petition to Pope Leo XIV for the papal definition of Mary as the Spiritual Mother of the world.  Please write a brief, heartfelt petition from your Marian heart to the Marian heart of Leo XIV, requesting his prayerful consideration of declaring the fifth Marian dogma of Mary’s Spiritual Motherhood.  You can send your petition to the Holy Father at this address:

His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV

00120 Vatican City State

Please consider forwarding this invitation to other Catholic and Marian apostolates, prayer groups, etc., who likewise understand the present Signs of the Times and the critical need to officially recognize Our Lady as the God-given remedy for our troubled times. We believe this fifth Marian dogma to be the key to the Triumph of Mary’s Immaculate Heart, thus unlocking and bringing peace, true peace to the world.

Dr. Mark Miravalle

St. John Paul II Chair of Mariology, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, USA

Constance Shifflin-Blum Chair of Mariology, Ave Maria University, Florida, USA

International President, Vox Populi Mariae Mediatrici (Voice of the People for Mary Mediatrix)