The BVM

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

It seems to me that much of the Church venerates the Virgin Mary with the same ardour as Christ himself. Here is a paragraph from Pope Benedict XIV's address to his cardinals after his election.

'I entrust all of us and the expectations, hopes and worries of the entire community of Christians to the Virgin Mother of God, who accompanied the steps of the newborn Church with her silent presence and comforted the faith of the Apostles. I ask you to walk under the motherly protection of Mary, Mater Ecclesiae, docile and obedient to the voice of her divine Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. As I call upon her constant patronage, I impart to each one of you and to all those whom divine Providence entrusts to your pastoral care my heartfelt Apostolic Blessing.'

Roman Catholic friends have repeatedly told me that she ain't equal and in the next breath have called her the 'Queen of Heaven'.

Well, I just thought Mary was a convenient womb. She had to be a virgin of course for the benefit of future legends. And Joseph, poor wuss, he just put up with all of this, cuckolded by the Holy Ghost. 'Don't worry, Joseph, I have laid your wife but she's going to have a great kid.'

Now let me be serious. The big issue I have with all this is twofold. First, these guys seem to put her on a par with JC and then carefully (as with Benedict XIV) suggest that perhaps she isn't. But they carry on behaving as if she was.

Second, statues, paintings and icons are everywhere in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Yes, I have said how much I love La Pieta but that is a sculpture telling a story. These shrines to the BVM are something else with people lighting candles and genuflecting before her.

I think that it smacks of idolatry.

Anyway, what have those two been doing up in heaven these past two thousand years? Sorting out Rigel 5?