Mary, Mother of God

Of all the saints, Mary holds a place of her own. She is the young woman of Nazareth who said yes to God, carried his Son, raised him, stood at his Cross and prayed with the apostles at Pentecost. Catholics love her as a mother. Christians of other traditions sometimes worry that this love crowds out Jesus. This article sets out what the Church actually teaches about her, carefully and in its own words where possible, and why every truth about Mary is really a truth about her Son.

Mary in Scripture

Mary appears at the decisive moments of the Gospel story.

• The Annunciation and the Visitation (Luke 1:26–56). The angel Gabriel announces that she will conceive by the Holy Spirit, and she consents: let it be to me according to your word (Luke 1:38). Her cousin Elizabeth greets her as "the mother of my Lord" (Luke 1:43), and Mary sings the Magnificat, foretelling that all generations will call her blessed (Luke 1:48).
• The birth and childhood of Jesus (Luke 2). She gives birth in Bethlehem, presents Jesus in the Temple, finds him there at twelve, and keeps all these things in her heart (Luke 2:19, 51).
• The wedding at Cana (John 2:1–11). She notices the wine has run out, brings the need to Jesus, and tells the servants: "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5). It is the last recorded instruction of Mary in Scripture, and a good summary of all her teaching.
• At the Cross (John 19:25–27). The dying Jesus entrusts his mother to the beloved disciple, and the disciple to her: "Behold, your mother!" (John 19:27).
• With the first Church (Acts 1:14). After the Ascension she is in the upper room, praying with the apostles as they await the Holy Spirit.

The four Marian dogmas

A dogma is a truth the Church teaches as divinely revealed and binding on faith. There are four about Mary. Each is stated precisely here, because each is often misunderstood.

Mother of God

Mary is truly the Mother of God, in Greek Theotokos, "God-bearer". This was confirmed by the Council of Ephesus in 431 (CCC 495). The title is first a statement about Jesus: the child Mary conceived and bore is not a man who later became united to God, but the eternal Son of God made man. She did not give birth to the divine nature; she gave birth to a person, and that person is God (CCC 466, 495).

Perpetual virginity

The Church confesses that Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit without a human father, and remained a virgin throughout her life: before, during and after his birth. The ancient liturgy calls her "ever-virgin" (CCC 499). The "brothers and sisters of Jesus" mentioned in the Gospels are understood, in line with biblical usage, as close relatives rather than other children of Mary; Matthew names two of them, James and Joseph, as sons of another Mary (CCC 500; Matthew 13:55; 27:56).

The Immaculate Conception

This dogma is about Mary's own conception in her mother's womb, not about the conception of Jesus, a common confusion. Pope Pius IX defined in 1854, in the bull Ineffabilis Deus, that from the first moment of her conception Mary was preserved free from all stain of original sin, by a singular grace of God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ (CCC 490–492). In other words, Mary too was saved by Christ, in an anticipated and unique way, so that she could give a completely free yes. Gabriel's greeting to her as one already filled with God's favour points to this (CCC 490–491; Luke 1:28).

The Assumption

Pope Pius XII defined in 1950, in the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus, that Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory (CCC 966). The definition deliberately does not settle whether she died first; it says only that her earthly life ended. Her Assumption is a share in her Son's Resurrection and a sign of the hope promised to all Christians (CCC 966).

Mother of the Church

Because Mary is the mother of Christ, and Christians are members of his body, the Church honours her as our mother too (CCC 963). At the Cross Jesus gave her to the beloved disciple, and through him to every disciple (CCC 964). She prayed with the first Church for the Spirit (CCC 965), and from heaven she continues to intercede for us (CCC 969). Pope St Paul VI proclaimed her "Mother of the Church" in 1964, during the Second Vatican Council.

Honour, not worship

Catholics do not worship Mary. Worship, adoration, belongs to God alone. The Catechism is explicit that devotion to Mary, though special, differs essentially from the adoration given to the incarnate Word, the Father and the Holy Spirit, and in fact fosters it (CCC 971).

Mary's role takes nothing from Christ as the one mediator between God and humanity (1 Timothy 2:5). Her intercession flows from his, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it (CCC 970). A helpful comparison for Christians of other traditions: when you ask a friend to pray for you, you are not replacing Jesus; you are joining your prayer to theirs. Catholics ask the same of Mary, the friend of God who knows him best.

Above all, everything Mary does points away from herself. Her whole message is the one she gave at Cana: do whatever he tells you. Many people find that the Rosary, which walks through the life of Jesus with her, is the simplest way to discover this for themselves.

Going deeper

• The Rosary: praying through the Gospel with Mary.
• The Communion of Saints: why Catholics ask the saints to pray.
• Jesus Christ: the Son every Marian truth is about.
• Read next in the Catechism: CCC 484–511 and 963–975.