Roman Catholic Mariology

Mariology of the Catholic Church is the systematic study of the person of Mary, mother of Jesus, and of her place in the economy of salvation, within Catholic theology.

Mary is seen as having a singular dignity above the saints. The Catholic Church teaches that she was conceived without original sin therefore receiving a higher level of veneration than all other saints. Roman Catholic Mariology thus studies not only her life but also the veneration of her in daily life, prayer, hymns, art, music, and architecture in modern and ancient Christianity throughout the ages.

The four dogmas of perpetual virginity, Mother of God, Immaculate Conception and Assumption form the basis of Mariology. However, a number of other Catholic doctrines about the Virgin Mary have been developed by reference to sacred scripture, theological reasoning and Church tradition. The development of Mariology is ongoing and since the beginnings it has continued to be shaped by theological analyses, writings of saints, and papal statements, e.g. while two Marian dogmas are ancient, the other two were defined in the 19th and 20th centuries; and papal teachings on Mary have continued to appear in recent times.

In parallel to the traditional views, since the late 19th century, a number of other perspectives have been presented as a challenge to Roman Catholic Mariology. These have ranged from feminist criticisms that consider the image of Mary a construct of the patriarchal mindset which limits equal opportunity for women, to other Christian views that see Mariology as unbiblical and a denial of the uniqueness of Christ as redeemer and mediator to modern psychological interpretations of Mary as the equivalent of mythical Goddesses ranging from Diana to Kwan Yin. Many different notions similar to these have been addressed in the 1988 John Paul II Apostolic Letter Mulieris dignitatem ("on the Dignity and Vocation of Women", for the occasion of the Marian Year. John Paul II also defines the feminine genius in this writing as well, referencing the life of the Mother of God.

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