The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that Mater Populi Fidelis is inopportune. It’s not that it’s wrong to caution about the use of a Marian title; in this case the caution is warranted. But why in a formal statement?

If you have a friend (or parishioner) who’s expressing himself in a way that can cause misunderstandings— out of an excess of excitement rather than a lack of good will— you don’t denounce him. You take him aside and try to talk sense into him, right?

I realize that a small group of theologians has been campaigning for years to have “Co-Redemptrix” defined as dogma. That would be a bad idea— in fact, inopportune— because it would needlessly rouse many Protestants to protest. It seems to me that this has been the (mercifully unofficial) policy of the Vatican for years: quietly explain that we’re not going to define a dogma, but avoid any formal statement. So if you wanted to use the title in private (or not-so-private) devotions, fine. Thus popes used the title; it was not a matter of controversy.

In other words there was no reason to define “Co-Redemptrix” as dogmatic, and no reason to define it as wrong.

Sometimes when it’s not necessary to say anything, it’s necessary not to say anything. This may have been one of those cases. The reaction to the Vatican statement was entirely predictable: howls from the people who have been feeling betrayed and forsaken by statements from the Vatican over the past 15 years. Cardinal Fernandez apparently anticipated that reaction (see Delia Gallager’s report on the press conference.)

My conclusions:

1) Fernandez has a bee in his bonnet; he sees tradition-minded Catholics as a sort of threat to the peace of the Church.

2) Therefore when tradition-minded Catholics say that the Vatican seems to be on a campaign against them, they’re not wrong.