Worship of Mary

QUESTION: Is the worship of Mary biblical?

ANSWER:

Bishop Alphonse de Ligouri is more responsible than any other for promoting the worship of Mary, therefore dethroning Christ and enthroning Mary in the hearts of the people. Rather than excommunicating him for his heresies, the Catholic Church canonized him as a saint and published his book, called "The Glories of Mary," which is famous, influential, and widely read. He noted that Mary was given rulership over one half of the kingdom of God and rules over the kingdom of mercy while Jesus rules over the kingdom of justice. He wrote that people should pray to Mary as a mediator and look to her as an object of trust for answered prayer. The book also states there is no salvation outside of Mary. Even though the Catholic Church mentions his views are extreme and not representative of the church, no one bothered to silence de Liguori as a heretic. Rather, he was canonized as a saint and declared to be a "doctor of the church." His teachings have influenced many popes.

Allow me to present here the versions of the Catholic doctrines about Mary compared to what the Bible says. The sources for this section are the Bible and the "Catechism of the Catholic Church," which has numbered paragraphs. For brevity's sake, I will use "Catechism" plus the number of the paragraph(s).

• ALL-HOLY - Mary, "the All-Holy," lived a perfectly sinless life (Catechism 411, 493).
  
  Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
  
  Revelation 15:4 says, "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy."
  
  Romans 3:10 says, "There is none righteous, no, not one."
  
  NOTE: In contrast, Mary said that God is her Savior (Luke 1:47). If God was her Savior, then Mary was not sinless. Sinless people do not need a Savior.
  
  
• CO-MEDIATOR - Mary is the co-mediator to whom we can entrust all our cares and petitions (Catechism 968-970, 2677).
  
  There is only one mediator, and that is Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 says, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men -- the testimony given in its proper time."
  
  Hebrews 7:25 says, "Therefore He (Jesus) is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them."
  
  Ephesians 3:12 says, "In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence."
  
  NOTE: If Jesus is constantly interceding for us and He is able to save us "to the uttermost," then He doesn't need Mary's help. If we can approach God with "boldness" and "confidence" because of our faith in Jesus, then we don't need Mary's help either.

These are only two of many doctrines regarding the worship of Mary. There is not enough room to list all of them here.

On May 7, 1997, Pope John Paul II dedicated his general audience to "the Virgin Mary" and urged all Christians to accept her as their mother. He noted the words spoken by Jesus on the cross to Mary and John -- "Woman, behold thy son!" and "Behold thy mother!" (John 19:26, 27), and he claimed that in this statement, "It is possible to understand the authentic meaning in the worship of Mary in the ecclesial community. . .which furthermore is based on the will of Christ" (Vatican Information Service, May 7, 1997). He said "the history of Christian piety teaches that Mary is the path that leads to Christ, and that filial devotion to her does not at all diminish intimacy with Jesus, but rather, increases it and leads it to very high levels of perfection." He concluded by asking all Christians "to make room for Mary in their daily lives, acknowledging her providential role in the path of Salvation."