Pope Francis and the title of Our Lady as "Co-redemptrix"

I am posting my reply to Fr. George Byers, who on his blog Let Us Arise treats Holy Father Francis poorly and unjustly.

The title of his essay is "Pope Francis rejects seven popes on Co-redemptrix", which is a startling statement, and opens with:

"I’m going to offer a critique of Pope Francis’ impassioned rejection of Mary as Co-Redemptrix at Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe the other day, December 12, 2019"

He has several grievances, but the heart of his concern seems to be when the Pope said (by Fr. Byer's transcription and translation)

• “Quando vengan con historias de que de declarala esto a ser trato como un dogma o esto – non la perdamos in tonteras.”
• “When they come with stories of having to declare this [Mary as Co-Redemptrix] to be a dogma or whatever – let’s not lose her in stupidities.”

and concludes from that:

“Stupidities.” This, of course, is not a named, but is nonetheless a direct attack on seven previous popes, as well as, it seems to me – and this is perhaps to the point – on Mark Miravale, who has made this title of Co-Redemptrix a life project. He’s done a lot of excellent work on this. What Pope Francis does is simply offensive. If he wants to pick a fight, he should name his adversaries who are alive today instead of hiding behind a bully pulpit. All stupidities about Mary? Really?"

This is all seems fundamentally incorrect: the Holy Father did not reject seven of his predecessors in their use of the term "Co-redemptrix" and he certainly did not directly (or indirectly) attack them, and he did not call the term itself, nor its use "stupid", nor is even the term "stupidities" necessarily the best translation in this context.

I look to any Argentinian Spanish speakers to help here, realizing that Spanish words take on many regional nuances and even completely different meanings from Spain through the various Spanish speaking countries in North, Central, and South America.

From my own high school Spanish course, our first memorized dialogue ("¿Hola, Luisa, que tal?") is still ingrained in my synaptic neural network: a boy invites a girl to his birthday party, she coyly suggests he is only inviting her so he will get more birthday presents.  He replies,

¡No seas tonta! ¡No te invito por eso!

Don't be silly! I don't invite you for that!

I cannot of course speak dispostively here -- my Spanish is not that good, and I am try to construct from context what the Holy Father seems to have been suggesting: after all, immediately after admonishing people to not demand that the Church must declare Our Lady as Co-Redemptrix as a new dogma, he continues to remind us all of what can be unambiguously said of her, on the great occasion of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe:

María es mujer, es Nuestra Señora, María es Madre de su Hijo y de la Santa Madre Iglesia jerárquica y María es mestiza, mujer de nuestros pueblos, pero que mestizó a Dios.

which seems to be something like:

Mary is the Woman, is Our Lady, Mary is the Mother of her Son and of the hierarchical Holy Mother Church, and Mary is mestiza (a 'mixed race woman'): a woman of our people, but who "mixed" with God.

I cannot bring myself to think that the Holy Father chose the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe to insult the Virgin. This is the Vatican link to the official text of his homily in Spanish.

Here is the (slightly corrected) comment I made on Father Byer's blog:

I'm pretty sure tontaras (tontaria) in this case is more like "silliness" -- no nos perdamos en tonteras seems more to say, "let not lose ourselves in silliness".   And what is being said to be silly?   That we must declare Mary as Co-Redemptrix as a matter of dogma.  

Pope Francis did not call that title "stupid".  He did not say any of his predecessors were stupid. He did not reject seven of his predecessors. 

BTW, you seem to be the only one who transcribes what he said as "non la perdamos in tonteras"    Most give "No nos perdamos..." which is what it sounds like to me, though I'm not fluent in Spanish and the Argentinian accent is not something I'm familiar with. I would advise you to check on this -- "no nos perdamos en tonteras" makes sense as I have translated it -- your "Don't lose her" is not so clear since he is speaking about the claim that she must be declared Coredemptrix as a matter of necessary dogma.

Cardinal Ratzinger was also concerned for the use of the term as well. His concern seems more than just "it’s correct but the wording could be misinterpreted", but rather that the term itself "departs to too great an extent from the language of Scripture and of the Fathers, and therefore gives rise to misunderstandings."  and

"“Everything comes from Him [Christ], as the Letter to the Ephesians and the Letter to the Colossians, in particular, tell us; Mary, too, is everything she is through Him ...  The word ‘co-redemptrix’ would obscure this origin. A correct intention being expressed in the wrong way."  (Cardinal Ratzinger with Peter Seewald, God and the World: A Conversation). [quote taken from David Armstrong's blog on this topic].

"Co-" seems to be too strong of a relational signifier:  co-pilot, co-conspirator, cooperator, co-chair, coworker, coadjutor, etc -- this prefix implies an equality in acting; that either can do the act, and it not a term of necessary subordination.  So I think there are valid reasons the term has not been officially adopted, let alone defined. 

Above all, theological language are terms need to be precise -- the avoidance of ambiguity is important for Christology, as for Mariology.  Other popes may have used Co-Redemptrix as a title without ever defining exactly what was intended: to do so from a papal office would be to make it magisterial as a formal and official definition -- akin to a dogmatic or doctrinal definition.  I can understand why no previous Pontiff did so: it is not necessary for the Faith, and might well be imprudent to do so.  Holy Father Francis seems to say the same, though in his characteristically rougher manner.

I ask you, Father George David Byers, to retract this essay -- it is an unjust and problematic account of what the Pope actually said, and comes across as an attack on the Supreme Pontiff.

Yours in Christ,

Steven J Schloeder, PhD (Theology)
Swarthmore PA