The Vatican recently has issued a document Mater Populi Fidelis that recommends not promoting the title Co-redemptrix for Our Lady in order not to confuse Her role with Christ’s unique mediation. In Medjugorje we have seen that Our Lady has both explicitly repeated that salvation is only possible through Her Son, yet She also has declared Herself Mediatrix. Below are the messages where Our Lady has mentioned this. It is interesting to note, these messages have received the Nihil Obstat from the Vatican:

“The Father’s love sends me to be a Mediatrix for you, to show you with motherly love the way which leads to the purity of soul; a soul unburdened by sin; a soul that will come to know eternity.”

Our Lady of Medjugorje through Mirjana, July 2, 2012

“I am coming among you because I desire to be your mother – your intercessor. I desire to be the bond between you and the Heavenly Father — your Mediatrix. I desire to take you by the hand and to walk with you in the battle against the impure spirit.”

Our Lady of Medjugorje through Mirjana, March 18, 2012

“Today I am calling you to reflect upon why I am with you this long. I am the Mediatrix between you and God.”

Our Lady of Medjugorje through Marija, July 17, 1986

However, Our Lady repeats throughout her messages that Her Son is the sole mediator of salvation, showing that She recognises a clear distinction between the words Mediatrix and Mediator.

In the early days of the apparitions, a theologian put the visionaries to the test and requested they ask the Blessed Virgin a question: whether there are other intermediaries, besides Jesus, between God and man? Here is the following answer Our Lady responded through the visionaries.

“There is only one mediator between God and man, and it is Jesus Christ.”

Our Lady of Medjugorje to the visionaries, October 7, 1981

Although that answer came instantaneously, it was later proved that Our Lady immediately quoted from Sacred Scripture, 1 Timothy 2:5 — “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”

“Jesus prefers that you address yourselves directly to Him rather than through an intermediary. In the meantime, if you wish to give yourselves completely to God and if you wish that I be your protector, then confide to me all your intentions, your fasts, and your sacrifices so that I can dispose of them according to the will of God.”

Our Lady of Medjugorje to the visionaries, September 4, 1982

The terms Mediatrix and Mediator do not denote the same role. The ending -trix is the Latin feminine form, while -tor is the masculine. Within the Catholic understanding, these endings express more than grammatical gender: they reveal a distinction between the roles of male and female: the active originator (-tor) and the assisting or cooperative role (-trix). Thus, they are not merely masculine and feminine versions of the same word, but complementary functions within the act of mediation itself. The -trix ending conveys the feminine participation that supports and cooperates with the -tor; in this sense, the Mediatrix works alongside the Mediator in an auxiliary and subordinate way, never apart from Him. The woman assists the role of the man and does not create, replace, or act as a new male mediator. By definition, -trix indicates one who works in union with the -tor; hence, Mediatrix signifies one who mediates alongside the Mediator.

The role of the Mediator is the one that saves, bringing humanity into God directly through Itself, where the role of Mediatrix is to advocate, one of praying to God to bring mankind through that Mediator into salvation. The Mediator saves, the Mediatrix advocates for our salvation, that we all go through the Mediator, hence Our Lady said that She is the Mediatrix between us and God, but there are no other mediators outside of Her Son Christ. We see this role of Mediatrix prefigured in the book of Esther. 

Throughout Our Lady’s messages, She has consistently emphasized that everything comes through Her Son, while at the same time making clear that She assists us along the way.

“With all my heart I pray for you to understand that only My Son is the salvation and the light of the world”

Our Lady of Medjugorje to the visionaries, September  2, 2014