Italian mariologist pens global petition asking Pope Leo to re-examine Vatican note on Marian titles

An Italian mariologist and priest has written an appeal — garnering signatures from Catholics around the world — expressing concern over a recent Vatican doctrinal note about Marian titles and asking Pope Leo XIV to reconsider the note’s contents, according to a Dec. 8 report from Rome-based journalist Diane Montagna. 

“With filial devotion we address this appeal to Your Holiness, giving humble voice to the dismay and consternation felt by a significant portion of the holy People of God after the publication, on 4 November 2025, of the mariological Note Mater Populi Fidelis by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith,” reads the beginning of the appeal Father Serafino Lanzetta penned.

According to Montagna, the appeal is currently available in six languages and more translations are on the way. Fr. Lanzetta explained that he authored the appeal to help the faithful who want to respectfully express their concerns about the note to Pope Leo “in a way that is grounded in a rigorous theological assessment” of the document,” Montagna reported.

The Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) published the note, stating that the term “Co-redemptrix” — a term dating back to the 15th century — is not appropriate for explaining the Blessed Virgin Mary’s role in salvation history because it risks creating confusion and “obscuring Christ’s unique salvific mediation,” as CatholicVote reported. The note also advises that the title “Mediatrix of All Graces” requires the use of “special prudence” and has limitations in when and how it should be used. 

Fr. Lanzetta’s appeal reads, “As children of the Church, our consciences are profoundly troubled as we read the statements contained in this Note regarding certain Marian titles that refer to the cooperation of Mary Most Holy in the work of our salvation. How can we not be afflicted to see this new mariological position set itself in clear opposition to the teaching handed down until now — teaching which has always recognized in the Virgin Mary a unique, real, and maternal role in the economy of Redemption?” 

Montagna reports that the appeal is formatted online in a way that enables clergy and laity to download,print, sign, and date the letter, recording their home country and diocese, and mail it to Pope Leo at the Apostolic Palace. There is also an option to sign it online.

Fr. Lanzetta expressed concerns about the note shortly after it first was published as well, according to Montagna. 

He wrote in an analysis that the note “adopts a minimalist view of the Blessed Virgin Mary and represents ‘a significant downgrade’ — not only from the teaching of the saints, doctors, and ordinary magisterium of the popes, but also from the Second Vatican Council’s treatment of Mary’s role in the work of salvation,” Montagna reported. Other leading Marian theologians have expressed strong critiques of the Note as well, she added. 

According to Montagna, faithful from around the world are signing the petition. 

“It is not a question, as the Note might seem to suggest, of replacing or updating certain titles deemed ambiguous or inopportune, but of cutting away — together with the titles ‘Co-redemptrix’ and ‘Mediatrix of all Graces’ — the very doctrine these titles embody,” the petition reads. “Indeed, the Catholic truth concerning Mary’s active cooperation in the saving work of her Son appears to be diminished, if not denied outright, as though it could stand in opposition to the sole mediation of Christ, rather than being rooted in it and entirely dependent upon it.”

The letter notes that Saint John Henry Newman, whom Pope Leo recently proclaimed a Doctor of the Church, supported these Marian titles. 

The signatories posited whether they need to decide that the saints, Doctors of the Church, “and the numerous Popes who taught this doctrine, were all mistaken.” 

The petition also observes that the note’s intent seems to be “to minimize” mariology that was developed by the Church Fathers, the Magisterium, and theologians, and it notes that the Second Vatican Council Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium “substantially” reflects this mariology as well in chapter eight.  

“Mary is presented in Mater Populi Fidelis as a simple disciple of Jesus, whose cooperation is merely receptive and subordinate to that of the Church, without a true acknowledgment of what the Most Holy Virgin has done for us in bringing us to new life in the supernatural order,” the petition continues. 

The petition further questions how the new note may affect the Miraculous Medal, the Scapular, the Rosary, “and all Marian devotions that presuppose — and embody —the true and maternal mediation of Mary?” 

The signatories conclude by emphasizing their “desire to remain faithful to the patrimony of Catholic doctrine and to the perennial faith of the Church. For this reason, with filial trust, we beg Your Holiness to hear our sorrow and intervene in whatever manner You deem most fitting, so that the honor, truth, and special veneration owed to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Our Mother, may be restored.

“Confident in Your pastoral solicitude, we commend Your Holiness to the protection of our Most Holy Mother, with sentiments of filial obedience.”