Co-Redemptrix (also spelled Coredemptrix; Co-Redemptress is an equivalent term) is a title used by some Catholics for the Virgin Mary, emphasizing her unique, subordinate cooperation with Jesus Christ in the redemption of humanity.
According to those who use the term, Co-Redemptrix refers to a subordinate but essential participation by the Blessed Virgin Mary in redemption, notably that she gave free consent to give life to the Redeemer, which meant sharing his life, suffering, and death, which were redemptive for the world. Related to this belief is the concept of Mary as Mediatrix, which is a separate concept but regularly included by Catholics who use the title Co-Redemptrix. Some, in particular the adherents of the Marian apparitions of The Lady of All Nations, have petitioned for a dogmatic definition, along with Mediatrix and Advocate.
The term "Co-redemptrix" has been applied to the Virgin Mary since the 15th century.Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Ludwig Ott, p. 212 Bernard of Clairvaux assigned Mary a role at the foot of the Cross that gave rise to the title "Co-redemptrix", which first appears in an anonymous fifteenth-century hymn from Salzburg: "Loving, sweet, and kind / altogether undeserving of any sorrow / if you henceforth chose to weep / as one suffering with the Redeemer / for the captive sinner / you would be co-redemptrix."As far as it is known to this day, this occurred in the fifteenth century when a Benedictine hymnographer bequeathed to posterity the following handwritten prayer, which is preserved in the Monastery of Saint Peter in Salzburg: “Pia, dulcis et benigna / nullo prorsus luctu digna / si fletum hinc eligeres / ut compassa Redemptori / captivato transgressori / tu corredemptrix fieres” (“Loving, sweet, and kind / altogether undeserving of any sorrow / if you henceforth chose to weep / as one suffering with the Redeemer / for the captive sinner / you would be co-redemptrix”): De compassione BMV, 20: G.M. Dreves (ed.), Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevi, XLVI, Leipzig 1905, n. 79, 127.
In more recent times, the title has received some support from the Catholic MagisteriumPope Benedict XV, Apostolic Letter Inter soldalica, AAS 1918, 181. though it is not included in the concluding chapter of the apostolic constitution Lumen gentium of the Second Vatican Council, which chapter many theologians hold to be a comprehensive summary of Catholic Mariology.
On 4 November 2025, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released Mater populi fidelis, a doctrinal note on Marian titles and Mary's role in salvation. Signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and Monsignor Armando Matteo, it clarified that it is always inappropriate to use the title "Co-redemptrix" to define Mary's cooperation, as this title risks obscuring Christ's unique salvific mediation and can therefore create confusion. The document was approved by Pope Leo XIV on 7 October 2025.
In December 2025, the Theological Commission of the International Marian Association, composed of 40 bishops and theologians, published a strongly critical response to the document Mater Populi Fidelis.
Doctrine and context The prefix "co-" derives from the Latin term "cum", which means "with" (and not "equal to"). Mary cooperates in a unique and subordinate way with Christ (the only Redeemer) in the redemption of the human race,Lumen Gentium 56, 61; Redemptoris Mater 38-39 through her fiat at the Annunciation and the subsequent incarnation of Christ,Lk. 1:38 and by accompanying Jesus to Calvary where she suffered spiritually with Him.Jn. 19:25-27; Lk. 2:35
Proponents view the title Co-Redemptrix as not implying that Mary participates as equal part in the redemption of the human race, since Christ is the only redeemer.1 Tim 2,5 Mary herself needed redemption and was redeemed by Jesus Christ. Being redeemed by Christ, implies that she cannot be his equal part in the redemption process.In 1994 Apostolic letter, Tertio Milennio Adveniente, John Paul II said, "Christ, the Redeemer of the world, is the one Mediator between God and men, and there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved (cf. Acts 4:12); §4, November 10, 1994, Libreria Editrice Vaticana Similarly, if Mary is described as the mediatrix of all graces, it “is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator”.Second Vatican Council, dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium 62, citing St. Ambrose, Epist. 63: PL 16, 1218.
The words of Luke 1, 38: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord" imply Mary's mediate, remote co-operation in the Redemption. Ambrose of Milan expressly teaches: "Christ's Passion did not require any support". In the power of the grace of Redemption merited by Christ, Mary, by her spiritual entering into the sacrifice of her Divine Son for men, made atonement for the sins of men, and (de congruo) merited the application of the redemptive grace of Christ. In this manner she co-operates in the subjective redemption of mankind.St. Ambrose, De inst. virg. 7, cited from Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, p.213
Theologians distinguish between "remote cooperation", by which she consents to the Incarnation and gives birth to the Son of God, and "immediate cooperation", in which she willingly unites herself to her Son's Passion and offers him back to the Father.Reynolds, Brian K. and Reynolds, Brian. Gateway to Heaven: Marian Doctrine and Devotion, Image and Typology in the Patristic and Medieval Periods, Vol. 1, New City Press, 2012, , p. 107 Philosophers also draw a distinction between merit de condigno (Christ's merit), which is based on justice, and merit proprie de congruo (Mary's merit), founded on the friendship of charity. In his encyclical on the Immaculate Conception, Ad diem illum, Pope Pius X said, "...since Mary carries it over all in holiness and union with Jesus Christ, and has been associated by Jesus Christ in the work of redemption, she merits for us de congruo, in the language of theologians, what Jesus Christ merits for us de condigno." Where it concerns post-Assumption graces, it is a pious opinion that the entirety of them come through the "intercession" of Mary,“Mary is the intermediary through whom is distributed unto us this immense treasure of mercies gathered by God, for mercy and truth were created by Jesus Christ. Thus as no man goeth to the Father but by the Son, so no man goeth to Christ but by His Mother.” Leo XIII, encyclical Octobri mense 4. Ott, Dogmatics, Mariology § 7 even thinks that, in spite of uncertain evidence in the Sources of Faith, a dogmatic definition does not seem impossible. a concept that is in itself in need of clarification.
History Around the year 180 AD, the Church Father Irenaeus, in his work Against Heresies, wrote that "Mary become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race" given her fiat ("let it be").
The concept was especially common in the late Middle Ages, when it was promoted heavily among the Franciscans, and often resisted by the Dominicans. It is an idea which was the subject of considerable theological debate, reaching a peak in the 15th century.Ott 256 By the early 16th century the hopes of the concept becoming Catholic doctrine had receded, and have never seriously revived.
A number of theologians have discussed the concept over the years, from the 19th-century Father Frederick William Faber, to the 20th-century Mariologist Father Gabriel Roschini.Gabriel Roschini, Compendium Mariologiae, Roma 1946. In his 1946 publication Compendium Mariologiae, Roschini explained that Mary did not only participate in the birth of the physical Jesus, but, with conception, she entered with him into a spiritual union. The divine salvation plan, being not only material, includes a permanent spiritual unity with Christ. Most Mariologists agree with this position.Schmaus, Mariologie, München, 1955, 328
The term Co-Redemptress was used by Pope Leo XIII in 1894: "For in the Rosary all the part that Mary took as our co-Redemptress comes to us..."Iucunda Semper Expectatione (September 8, 1894) | LEO XIII
In the year of 1914, the Pope Pius X granted an indulgence to those who recited a prayer containing the following passage: I bless thy holy Name, I praise thine exalted privilege of being truly Mother of God, ever Virgin, conceived without stain of sin, Co-Redemptrix of the human race. The prayer is found in the Raccolta of 1950 with Vatican approval.Oración indulgenciada (22 enero 1914): AAS 6 (1914), 108
In his encyclical on the Immaculate Conception, Ad diem illum, Pope Pius X said, "...since Mary carries it over all in holiness and union with Jesus Christ, and has been associated by Jesus Christ in the work of redemption, she merits for us de congruo, in the language of theologians, what Jesus Christ merits for us de condigno."Pope Pius X. Ad diem illum, §14, February 2, 1904, Libreria Editrice Vaticana
The title tends to be most popular among conservative Catholics. Modern proponents see some support in Inter sodalicia, a 1918 commemorative letter of Pope Benedict XV to a Roman sodality:
It was God's design that the Blessed Virgin Mary, apparently absent from the public life of Jesus, should assist him when he was dying nailed to the Cross. Mary suffered and, as it were, nearly died with her suffering Son; for the salvation of mankind she renounced her mother's rights and, as far as it depended on Her, offered her Son to placate divine justice; so we may well say that she with Christ redeemed mankind.Pope Benedict XV, Apostolic Letter Inter sodalicia, AAS 10 (1918), 182
The first Pope to use the term "Co-redemptrix" was Pius XI in a Brief dated 20 July 1925 about the Queen of the Rosary of Pompeii: "Remember also that at Calvary you became the Co-redemptrix, cooperating with the crucifixion of your heart for the salvation of the world, together with your crucified Son."Pius XI, Ad B.V.M. a Sacratissimo Rosario in Valle Pompeiana, in Sacra Paenitentiaria Apostolica, Enchiridion indulgentiarum, Rome 1952, n. 628
In an allocution to pilgrims from Vicenza on 30 November 1933 Pius XI said:
Finally in a radio message on the occasion of the closing of the Jubilee of the Redemption at Lourdes (28 April 1935) Pius XI stated: "Mother most faithful and most merciful, who as Co-redemptrix and partaker of thy dear Son's sorrows didst assist him as he offered the sacrifice of our Redemption on the altar of the Cross ... preserve in us and increase each day, we beseech thee, the precious fruits of our Redemption and thy compassion."
Pope Pius XII describes Mary as intimately associated with Christ in the work of redemption. In his encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi mentions: "It was she, the second Eve, who, free from all sin, original or personal, and always more intimately united with her Son, offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father for all the children of Adam, sin-stained by his unhappy fall, and her mother's rights and her mother's love were included in the holocaust." In his encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam relates:
In the encyclical Haurietis Aquas Pius XII states: "For, by God's Will, in carrying out the work of human Redemption the Blessed Virgin Mary was inseparably linked with Christ in such a manner that our salvation sprang from the love and the sufferings of Jesus Christ to which the love and sorrows of His Mother were intimately united."
Attempts to promote a fifth Marian dogma were undertaken in the 1920s through 1940s, but Pius XII decided not to proceed with the definition of the dogma. In 1941 it was published Mother of the Saviour and our Interior life, the first translation into English of a volume in which the thomist theologian Garrigou-Lagrange explained Virgin Mary's active role in divine Redemption. (available at Academia.edu)