For as long as I have been able to understand the concept of religion, it has always fascinated me. Christianity, being the religion I was most exposed to, was at the top of that fascination, but I never had access to a Bible until I was around 14, and when I finally obtained one, I didn't like to read it because it drew negative attention. Thus, my studies were limited, and the only real "study" I was able to do was the Religious Studies lessons and the accompanying homework. This lead to a problem. The public school system (at least here in England) is the last place you want to go for accurate teaching on Christianity.
Naturally, the school pushed the idea that Catholicism is just one branch of Christianity. It focused mainly on what we all have in common. The fact that Jesus was crucified, the doctrine of the Trinity, the fact that we all believe the Bible is an authoritative source, our views on the ethics of murder etc. What we were never taught is the significant differences between Catholicism and basically everything Christian that is not Catholic.
One of the unique (at least I believe so, but I'm not sure about Orthodoxy) things about Catholicism is the exaltation of Mary. The Catholic view of Mary is so repugnant that many Catholics refuse to acknowledge official Church teachings on her, if they even know it. Plain and simple: The Catholic Church teaches Mary worship.
As I write this, I know that the above sentence will both offend Catholics and cause them to roll their eyes. They will claim that they don't worship Mary, they only "venerate" her. They distinguish between three types of adoration: Latria (the worship due to God), Dulia (veneration due to angels and all other Saints) and hyperdulia (that which is given to Mary, which is higher than angels, but lower than God). The Bible, of course, makes no such distinctions, and as we will examine today, Catholicism both explicitly worships Mary and worships her through its doctrines and practices. Note that this does not mean all Catholics believe or do these things. Indeed, it is the saving grace of many Catholics that they just don't know what their Church actually teaches.
When I first wrote this article, I sat deleting, re-writing and thinking about what to write next. Whereas the Bible doesn't dedicate huge amounts of time to Mary, the Catholic sources certainly do. I have decided to omit the more "trivial" doctrines, such as her bodily assumption, her perpetual virginity and basically anything "small". But even taking out these crazy doctrines, there is still a lot to cover.
After what was the best part of an hour, I eventually decided at random to start by quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church 966. "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death." (Emphasis mine).
Queen over all things. Still below Jesus, and in fact she is said to have been made queen over all things that she might be more fully conformed to Him, but according to Catholicism, Mary is queen over all things. This sounds dangerously close to Jesus' claim to have all authority over Heaven and Earth. This is even reflected in Catholic images of the Trinity placing a crown on Mary's head, such as "Mary's Coronation" (shown to the left). Her being queen of all things includes the Apostles (Homily of John Paul II, Friday, 29 June 2001), and, of course the Church.
This explains why so many Catholics pray to Mary. A lot of them disagree with this claim. They say they don't pray to Mary, they merely ask her to pray for them, which is also true (and utterly forbidden by the scriptures). But Catholicism itself teaches that both are valid practices. For example, Catechism of the Catholic Church 2679 says "When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to save all men. Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus' mother into our homes, for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope." (Emphasis mine). John Paul II doubled down on the point that we can not only pray to Mary, but she also hears it. He wrote "May the Blessed Virgin hear your every prayer." (message of John Paul II, read by H. E. Msgr. Francesco Marchisano, Grotto of our Lady of Lourdes in the Vatican Gardens, Saturday, 31 May 2003).
John Paul also once said "it is possible to understand the authentic meaning of Marian worship in the ecclesial community ... which furthermore is based on the will of Christ" (Vatican Information Service, May 7, 1997).
Did you catch that? What sort of worship? Marian. Not Christian, Marian. John Paul II worshipped Mary, in line not just with what we have discussed in this article, but also with the many other sources I could have included, but chose not to, because quite frankly it's mind boggling that this stuff exists. With how much of the Catholic sources are dedicated to what is blatant worship of Mary, even to the point where she is described as participating in our salvation, it's a wonder there aren't countless Catholic images of Mary on the cross.
Mercifully, even the Catholic Church has yet to dive so deep into idolatry as to produce countless images of Mary on the cross, but such abominations do exist. The example in the header image was photographed outside of the main Mary basilica in Rome (Santa Maria Maggiore). On one side is Jesus, just as He is classically depicted on any crucifix. But on the other side is Mary, wearing a crown and cradling the baby Jesus. This is just one example, but other images do exist of Mary on the cross.
Overall, the picture the Catholic Church paints of Mary is blatant idolatry. Mary plays one part in our salvation: The physical act of bearing Jesus. She is not someone we should pray to, or even attempt to communicate with. She does not intercede between us and Jesus. She is not the Queen of Heaven. She is not the mother of the Church. None of the legendary aspects of her, such as her being immaculately conceived, perpetually chaste, free of sin or bodily assumed into Heaven, are true. If Mary could see what the Catholic Church has done to her memory, she would plead with God to remove her name from the scriptures so that she may not even be remembered by the Catholic Church. Those who follow the official Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church are no better than Israel when they, too, devoted themselves to the "Queen of Heaven" (Jeremiah 7:18).