I have often heard of Our Lady being called “Mediatrix of all graces”, but now the Vatican has said it is not appropriate to apply this title to her. Why is this?
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) dealt with this question at length in its document Mater Populi Fidelis, Mother of the Faithful People of God, dated 4 November 2025.
The title “Mediatrix of all graces” is generally understood to mean that all graces bestowed on mankind by God somehow originate in or pass through Mary.
In answer to this, the document says that “Mary is sometimes portrayed as if she possessed a repository of grace separate from God.
In such a notion, it is not so clear that it is the Lord who – in his generous and free omnipotence – willed to associate her with the sharing of that divine life which springs forth from the sole center that is the Heart of Christ, not that of Mary” (n. 45).
“She is also frequently portrayed or imagined as a fountain from which all grace flows.
If one considers the fact that the Trinitarian indwelling (uncreated grace) and our participation in the divine life (created grace) are inseparable, we cannot think that this mystery depends on a ‘passage’ through Mary’s hands.
Such notions elevate Mary so highly that Christ’s own centrality may disappear or, at least, become conditioned” (n. 45).
What is more, “Some titles, such as ‘Mediatrix of all Graces,’ have limits that do not favor a correct understanding of Mary’s unique place.
In fact, she, the first redeemed, could not have been the mediatrix of the grace that she herself received.
This is not a minor point since it reveals something central: even in Mary’s case, the gift of grace precedes her and comes from the absolutely free initiative of the Trinity in view of Christ’s merits” (n. 67).
Although not being a channel through which God’s grace flows to us, Mary does have a role in helping us prepare to receive grace: “Mary’s motherhood in the order of grace must be understood as a help in preparing us to receive God’s sanctifying grace…On the other hand, her maternal presence in our lives does not preclude various actions from Mary aimed at encouraging us to open our hearts to Christ’s activity in the Holy Spirit. In this way, she helps us – in various ways – to prepare ourselves to receive the life of grace that only the Lord can pour into us” (n. 46).
The DDF document explains how the fundamental grace of the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the soul can only come about through God’s action: “Indeed, only God reaches our innermost center to bring about elevation and transformation when he gives himself as a Friend, and thus, ‘no creature can confer grace’” (n. 50).
Therefore, “No human person – not even the Apostles or the Blessed Virgin – can act as a universal dispenser of grace. Only God can bestow grace, and he does so through the humanity of Christ since ‘the man Christ possessed supreme fullness of grace, as being the only-begotten of the Father.’
Although the Blessed Virgin Mary is preeminently ‘full of grace’ and ‘Mother of God,’ she, like us, is an adopted daughter of the Father…She cooperates in the economy of salvation by a derived and subordinate participation.
Therefore, any expression about her ‘mediation’ in grace must be understood as a distant analogy to Christ and his unique mediation” (n. 53).
Moreover, “As the Second Vatican Council teaches, ‘the Blessed Virgin’s salutary influence… does not hinder in any way the immediate union of the faithful with Christ but, rather, fosters it.’
For this reason, one should avoid any description that would suggest a Neoplatonic-like outpouring of grace by stages, as if God’s grace were descending through various intermediaries (such as Mary) while its ultimate source (God) remained disconnected from our hearts.
Such interpretations carry a negative impact on a proper understanding of the intimate, direct, and immediate encounter that grace effects between the Lord and the believer’s heart” (n. 55).
In summary, Mary is not a “mediatrix of all graces” in the sense that all graces pass through her hands, but as our Mother, she is a mediatrix in helping us prepare to receive God’s grace.
For more on Fr Flader’s popular series on Mary’s titles, please read the following stories.
Part 1: Is Mary a Mediatrix.
Part 2: Co-Redemptrix