A Synodal Lesson: Invoke the Destroyer of All Heresies

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix of All Graces, and Destroyer of all Heresies, pray for Her Son's Holy Church!

From Crisis

By Nicolas Castelli, MA(Theol)

The recent synod testimonies are simply erroneous and explicitly contradict Catholic doctrine. We need to invoke the Destroyer of All Heresies against them.

Since the publication of Mater Populi Fidelis, there has been spirited commentary on the Marian titles “co-redemptrix” and “mediatrix of all graces.” While I do support these titles, I believe there is a different one that needs to be immediately restored in ordinary Catholic piety, especially in light of the recent synod testimony: Our Lady, the “destroyer of all heresies” (Pope St. Pius X, Pascendi Dominici Gregis).

The recent synod testimonies are simply erroneous and explicitly contradict Catholic doctrine. For example, the second testimony, from “an openly gay Catholic,” opens by saying: “My sexuality isn’t a perversion, disorder, or cross; it’s a gift from God.” This statement comes from a man who eventually entered a Ph.D. program in theology at Fordham University. From these external signs, it is likely that this man is aware of his rupture from Church teachings—namely, that the inclination is “objectively disordered” (CCC 2358), that its acts “can in no case be approved of” (Persona Humana, VIII), and that persons with this tendency are called to a special sharing in the cross (CCC 2358).

In some sense, we should be grateful for the testimonies. They have clearly and definitively manifested that “the major step forward”—as Fr. James Martin branded it—with the Church’s “listening” regarding same-sex attraction is really a movement toward doctrinal rupture. As Cardinal Willem Eijk wrote for the National Catholic Register: “Study Group 9’s report fundamentally contradicts Catholic moral teaching… This report must be forcefully refuted.” The cardinal assures us that “a number of cardinals and bishops will make their objections known to the Roman Magisterium.”

In some sense, we should be grateful for the testimonies. They have clearly and definitively manifested that “the major step forward” with the Church’s “listening” regarding same-sex attraction is really a movement toward doctrinal rupture.

But what can we—the ordinary faithful with no magisterial authority—do to defend the Faith not only against this error but others that are likely to continue arising from synod study groups? What can we do to fight for the bulwark of truth (1 Timothy 3:15)? We must invoke the Church’s mother under her title destroyer of all heresies.

Stated without judgment, I cannot personally recall everhearing a bishop, priest, or deacon use this title publicly. It often seems to be met with (at least) slight discomfort among Catholics because of how foreign it is to modern sensibilities (as is spiritual warfare in general). Some may even see this perspective on Our Lady as an “exaggerated” expression that the Church has left to the past in this contemporary and enlightened age of dialogue. However, this title is not simply devotional—it is magisterial.

Several popes have used this title, even if in slightly different words. Pope St. Pius V taught that she “has alone destroyed all heresies” in the papal bull Consueverunt Romani (1569). Pope Pius VIII confessed that “she alone has overcome all heresies” in the encyclical Traditi Humilitati (1829). Pope Gregory XVI, responding to liberalism and religious indifferentism, called on the Church to raise “our eyes and hands to the most holy Virgin Mary, who alone crushes all heresies” in the encyclical Mirari Vos (1832); he also invoked her “power to end all heresies” in the encyclical Inter Praecipuas (1844). Pope Bl. Pius IX taught that she “has destroyed all heresies” in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus (which defined the Immaculate Conception in 1854) and that she has “slain all heresies throughout the world” in the apostolic letter Quanta Cura (1864).

Pope Leo XIII taught that the Church salutes Our Lady “as the conqueror of the Evil One and of all errors” in the encyclical Augustissimae Virginis Mariae (1897). In addition to the earlier reference in his condemnation of modernism, Pope St. Pius X taught that “she has exterminated all heresies in the world” in the encyclical Ad Diem Illum (1904). Lastly, quoting the Roman Breviary in the encyclical Ingravescentibus Malis (1937), Pope Pius XI looked to how our fathers turned to her “alone who destroys all heresies in the world” when surrounded by errors.

Notice that these are not homilies or off-the-cuff remarks—they are high-level documents spanning several pontiffs. Catholics desperately need to remember that our battles are not mere theological debates or against troubling factions of Vatican politics. Rather, St. Paul says they are “against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness” (Ephesians 6:12). He also says that the “weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). This Marian title then not only has power in the truth it signifies (which Fr. Paul Scalia has explained) but also in having been forged by the papal magisterium as a spiritual sword (Ephesians 6:17) for the Church Militant.

Those who struggle with same-sex attraction are my brothers and sisters; they are not our enemies. The Lord loves them, Our Lady loves them, and I love them. They “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” (CCC 2358). But true acceptance and compassion lie in accompanying these (and all) persons on the often painfully difficult road to chastity so that they, too, may reach Christian perfection (CCC 2359).

This accompaniment is not about affirming the condition—it is a delicate ministry of healing in the truth (Luke 5:29-32; John 8:31-38) and of being motivated by charity yet uncompromising in doctrinal clarity, even when faced with difficult and complex pastoral situations. Given the preceding considerations, this type of ministry necessarily demands battling with them and for them (Ephesians 6:18) by resisting the real enemy (Ephesians 6:11), who works to snatch all of us (1 Peter 5:8) by the deception of false teaching (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Corinthians 11:3-4).

The synod testimonies are not binding; but nevertheless, they have dramatically bolstered errors that have been undermining the Church for decades from within (Acts 20:29-30). This scandal should be our battle cry for perseverance in prayer. The victorious Lord has given us a mother who crushes the enemy with and under Him(Genesis 3:15). She most desires to exercise this power for us because the war is waged against her children (Revelation 12:17). Therefore, I will more ardently pray for Our Lady’s intercession under this title. When we seek peace, we invoke her as Our Lady of Peace. When we seek wisdom, we invoke the Seat of Wisdom. In this time of widespread error and confusion, we must invoke her as Our Lady, the destroyer of all heresies.