Mary, Mother of God: fifteen questions

Because what we believe about Mary is based on what we believe about Christ, and what we teach about her illumines our faith in him. Every truth about the Mother points to the Son.

God chose from all eternity a daughter of Israel, a young Jewish woman of Nazareth, to be the mother of his Son, and he wanted her willing cooperation. Many holy women of the Old Covenant, from Eve to Sarah, Hannah, Deborah, Ruth, Judith and Esther, prepared for her mission.

From the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace of God and because of the merits of Christ, Mary was preserved from every stain of original sin. Pope Pius IX proclaimed this dogma in 1854. She too was redeemed by her Son, in a more exalted way.

No. By the grace of God she remained without any personal sin all her life. The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call her the "All-Holy" (Panagia).

At the Annunciation she answered with the obedience of faith: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). By that consent she became the mother of Jesus and gave herself wholly to the work of her Son. She cooperated in our salvation by faith and obedience, and so became the new Eve, mother of the living.

Because the one she conceived and bore as man is the eternal Son of the Father, the second Person of the Trinity, God himself. Elizabeth already greeted her as "the mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:43). The Council of Ephesus in 431 confessed her as Mother of God (Theotokos) (CCC 466).

From the beginning the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit alone in the womb of the Virgin Mary, without a human father. It is a real event, not a legend, and a work of God beyond all human understanding, fulfilling Isaiah 7:14.

It shows that the Incarnation is God's initiative: Jesus has only God as Father. He is the New Adam who begins a new creation. And Mary's virginity is the sign of her undivided faith and her whole gift of herself to God.

Yes. The Church confesses Mary's real and perpetual virginity, even in giving birth to the Son of God. The liturgy honours her as the "Ever-virgin" (Aeiparthenos).

The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of Mary. James and Joseph, called "brothers of Jesus", are sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ. In the language of the Old Testament "brothers" can mean close relatives. Jesus is Mary's only son, but her spiritual motherhood reaches all whom he came to save.

She is joined with her Son from his conception to his death, above all at the Cross, where Jesus gave her to the beloved disciple as his mother (John 19:26–27). After the Ascension she prayed with the Apostles for the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul VI, on 21 November 1964, proclaimed her "Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church".

When the course of her earthly life was finished, Mary was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory. Pope Pius XII defined this in 1950. It is a singular share in her Son's Resurrection and a foretaste of ours. The Byzantine tradition keeps it as the Dormition, the "falling asleep" of the Mother of God, on 15 August.

No. Christ is the one Mediator. Mary's motherhood in the order of grace does not obscure or lessen his unique mediation but shows its power. All her influence flows from his merits, depends entirely on him and draws all its power from him.

No. The Church honours Mary with a special devotion, which differs in its very nature from the adoration given to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and in fact helps that adoration. Her feasts and prayers such as the Rosary, called an "epitome of the whole Gospel", express this devotion.

The Hail Mary joins the angel's greeting and Elizabeth's blessing to our plea: "pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death". The Byzantine Churches pray the Akathistos and the Paraclesis, and the Syriac, Armenian and Coptic traditions sing their own hymns to her, such as those of Saint Ephrem and Saint Gregory of Narek. We can pray with Mary and to her, as the beloved disciple took her into his home.