Roman Catholics No Longer Call Mary “Co-Redeemer”!

And yes, there continue to remain HUGE problems with Roman Catholic theology.

Just recently I heard of a conservative Baptist pastor leaving his church and turning to Catholicism. This type of move is not isolated. Many in the conservative political world are doing so with the rise of prominent cultural figures like Candace Owens, Michael Knowles, and Erika Kirk, who remain Catholic or deeply connected to the Catholic Church. While we might admire public figures for standing up for biblical morality, what a person believes about biblical salvation matters deeply as well.

But is the Catholic Church changing?

It’s all over the religious news, but the United Conference of Catholic Bishops said it best.

“While praising devotion to Mary, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith firmly rejected moves to formally proclaim Mary as “co-redemptrix” or “co-mediatrix.”

This is a change, or at least a clarification of a debate within Catholicism and I believe it is intended to satisfy the angst of those with an evangelical background who have converted to Catholicism. Up until recently, Mary was considered the co-redeemer and co-mediator with Jesus Christ. Just think of that, Mary raised in status to the status of Christ even though scripture tells us very clearly there is only one Mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). Pope John Paul II referred to Mary as co-redemptrix on at least seven different occasions according to the article.

This is good, isn’t it?

No. It’s window dressing.

Consider the practical meaning of the term “co-mediatrix.”  That would imply that Mary is somehow in the chain of intercession between God and the believer, along with Jesus. So while she has been officially stripped of the title by the church, she still holds that practical function. Again, consider the bishops’ description of the continuing importance of Mary.

“Therefore, we can affirm that Mary has a unique collaboration in the saving work that Christ carries out in his Church. With this intercession, Mary can become for us a motherly sign of the Lord’s mercy.”

If this is the true doctrine of the Church, then Mary remains co-redemptrix and co-mediator regardless of what her official title is.

Big problems remain.

The distinctions between Church dogma and the scriptures proclaimed by the Reformers still remains intact today.

What is our authority?

First, there is the authority of scripture. Catholics do not see the Bible as the only authority for faith and practice, but one of the three authorities. The others are Church tradition and proclamations of the doctrinal dicastery.

This huge change in Catholic dogma has just occurred, not because of a new understanding of the teachings of scripture, but rather as a debate among church leaders and at the whim of Church leadership.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the doctrinal dicastery, presented the document during a conference at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome and said its teaching becomes part of the church’s “ordinary magisterium” and must be considered authoritative.

How are we saved?

Are we saved by grace alone, in Christ alone, by faith alone, or are we save by working with Christ in accomplishing the work of salvation?  The testimony of the New Testament scriptures are clear. It is not our righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:21-26). It is not by the Law or by works (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Yet the Roman Catholic Church still preaches a salvation by works and not by faith alone. Consider the statement in the same article.

While Christ, fully human and fully divine, is the one mediator between God and humanity, it said, “he enables various forms of participation in his salvific plan because, in communion with him, we can all become, in some way, cooperators with God and ‘mediators’ for one another.”

“If this holds true for every believer — whose cooperation with Christ becomes increasingly fruitful to the extent that one allows oneself to be transformed by grace — how much more must it be affirmed of Mary in a unique and supreme way,” the doctrinal note said.

So, what is the draw of Catholicism?

It’s not Catholicism, it is the deepening decline of present-day evangelicalism. Many professing evangelical churches have not only refused to speak out on the immorality of our present culture but often have proudly embraced it. In so doing they have abandoned the commands of 1 Corinthians 5 and 6 and have become the Laodicean Church.

People are longing for reverence in their worship. Evangelical worship has become a pop concert focused on entertaining crowds rather than truly, humbly, worshipping God. They have abandoned all sense of reverence for the Almighty for smoke, strobes, mirrors, and all the trappings of the entertainment world. This is not only why the formalism of Catholicism is intriguing, but also the false focused devotion of Islam.

We need a revival in evangelicalism that is not only a return to personal faith in Christ and the holiness that produces, but also a return to simple, humble, reverent worship, free from the trappings of self-indulgent entertainment.

We desperately need sound doctrine and appropriate worship forms. Reverent forms without sound doctrine condemn souls to hell. Nominally sound doctrine with self-indulgent worship forms will never be acceptable to God either.

The only acceptable worship is to worship the true God, submit to the truths of His word, and to worship Him with deep reverence.

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The audio version of this post is here: Roman Catholics No Longer Call Mary “Co-Redeemer”!