There are five traditional Catholic beliefs about Mary:
1) that she is the Mother of God
Catholics for a long time have faced criticism in referring to Mary as the Mother of God. God does not have a mother, our separated brothers and sisters will say. There is no biblical reference of Mary being the Mother of God, only the Mother of Jesus. So where does this come from and how do we defend it? Our Blessed Pope Benedict XVI addressed this very question to a general audience in the Vatican's Audience Hall of Pope Paul VI on January 2, 2008. On January 1st of each year we celebrate the solemn Feast of Mary, Mother of God. The title "Mother of God""is the title that was officially attributed to Mary in the 5th Century, to be exact, at the Council of Ephesus in 431, but which had already taken root in the devotion of the Christian people since the 3rd century, in the context of heated discussions on the Person of Christ in that period. This title highlights the fact that Christ is God and truly was born of Mary as a man: in this way His unity as true God and true man is preserved. Actually, however much the debate might seem to focus on Mary, it essentially concerned the Son. Desiring to safeguard the full humanity of Jesus, several Fathers suggested a weaker term: instead of the title Theotokos, they suggested Christotokos, "Mother of Christ"; however, this was rightly seen as a threat to the doctrine of the full unity of Christ's divinity with his humanity. On the one hand, therefore, after lengthy discussion at the Council of Ephesus in 431, as a I said, the unity of the two natures - the divine and the human (cf.DS, n. 250) - in the Person of the Son of God was solemnly confirmed and, on the other, the legitimacy of the attribution of the title Theotokos, Mother of God, to the Virgin.
After this Council, a true explosion of Marian devotion was recorded and many churches dedicated to the Mother of God were built...The teaching on Mary, Mother of God, received further confirmation at the Council of Chalcedon (451), at which Christ was declared "true God and true man...born for us and for our salvation of Mary, Virgin Mother of God, in his humanity. As is well known, the Second Vatican Council gathered the teachings on Mary in the eighth chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, reaffirming her divine motherhood. The chapter is entitled "The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the Mystery of Christ and the Church".
Thus, the description "Mother of God"...is therefore the fundamental name with which the Community of Believers has always honoured the Blessed Virgin...
All the other titles with which the Church honours Our Lady then derive from the title "Mother of God", but this one is fundamental.
May the new year, which began under the sign of the Virgin Mary, bring us deeper awareness of her motherly presence so that, sustained and comforted by the Virgin's protection, we may contemplate the Face of her Son Jesus with new eyes and walk more quickly on the paths of good.
