Pope says Motherhood of God is interrelated to mysteries of Catholic faith

(September 08, 2012) In dedicating a special section and honour to the Mother of God, the Second Vatican Council wanted to show the profound link among the mysteries of Christian faith, Pope Benedict XVI said on Saturday. He made the observation to some 350 participants in the 23rd International Mariological Marian Congress who met him at the summer papal residence of Castel Gandolfo. The Sept. 4-9 congress in Rome had as its theme, “Mariology since Vatican Council II. Reception, Results and Perspectives.” Speaking to the group on the day the Church celebrates the Nativity or birth of Mary (Sept. 8), the Pope noted that the issue of their discussion assumes a special significance in view of the Year of Faith starting on Oct. 11, the 50th anniversary of the start of the Second Vatican Council. The Holy Father said that when he announced the year, he presented Mary as an example of faith and invoked her special protection and intercession for the journey of the Church. The Pope explained that the meaning and end of the mystery of the birth of the Mother of God lies in the Incarnation of the Word. In fact Mary is born and nurtured to maturity to be the Mother of God. This fact leads us to the heart of the discussion of the congress, and which the Second Vatican Council wanted to highlight when it dedicated the entire Chapter 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution ‘Lumen Gentium’ to the “Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God in the mystery of Christ and the Church.” The Pope said it is this interrelationship, between the mysteries of the Christian faith, that the Council wanted to indicate for us to to understand the individual elements as well as diverse statements of the patrimony of the Catholic faith. The Pope however noted that everything about Mary hasn’t been dealt with by the Second Vatican Council, and he encouraged that more studies and reflections on her from various angles be carried out in depth.