Marian Piety and Ecumenical Convergence: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

In the Catholic world, the year 2017 is marked by the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Apparitions of Mary in Fátima, Portugal. Although the field of the devotional and popular Marian piety might be a field of misunderstandings and fuel to feed prejudice on how different Christians relate with each other, namely on the understanding of Mary, it should be taken as a pastoral opportunity and an ecumenical challenge. This paper looks into the different Roman Catholic documents that since the Vatican II presents Mary’s role in the history of salvation and her place in the church and how they denote an ecumenical dimension and concern. Following it proposes to analyze the declarations on Mary of the North-American Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission, the French Dombes Group and the Anglo-Roman Catholic International Commission. These ecumenical consensuses express a reception from Vatican II’s contribution on Mary, and manifesting a more positive tone regarding the popular Marian piety and devotions; they challenge all the Christians from the pastoral and ecumenical point of view.