More than 100 Catholics in Chiclayo, Peru — where Pope Leo served as bishop from 2014 until 2023 — have sent a letter to the Pontiff requesting that he reconsider a recent doctrinal note on Marian titles that they described as scandalous and a cause of suffering for the Blessed Mother, according to a Jan. 2 report from Rome-based Catholic journalist Diane Montagna.
The brief letter was penned by a laywoman who preferred to remain anonymous and is involved in a movement to promote Saint Louis de Montfort’s 33-day Marian consecration, according to Montagna.
The letter begins with the salutation “Your Holiness Pope Leo XIV,” followed by an affectionate greeting referencing the decades of pastoral work Pope Leo previously carried out in Peru.
“Dear Pope Robert, I write to you from Chiclayo, Peru — the land that loves you so dearly and longs to see you again — to share that the People of God are deeply saddened by the doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis,” the letter reads, according to Montagna.
The author states that the local faithful celebrated the feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal “from whose rings flow all the graces that reach the world” in November 2025, but “our parish priest found himself in the sorrowful position of being unable to speak of Our Lady as the Mediatrix of all graces.”
“Can you imagine such a thing?” the author continued. “What a harmful innovation for the faithful this doctrinal note by Cardinal Fernández has been. How much sadness it caused us all! :(”
CatholicVote previously reported that the doctrinal note issued Nov. 4, 2025, states that referring to Mary as “Co-redemptrix” is not appropriate to explain her role in the work of Redemption. This title has been used to refer to Mary’s divine motherhood — a crucial role in the work of Redemption — or in reference to Mary being united with her Son at the Cross, according to the note, which is signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF).
The note says that this title — which has been supported by numerous popes, saints, and doctors of the Church — poses a risk of “obscuring Christ’s unique salvific mission” and thus causing confusion. The note also cautions against use of the title “Mediatrix of All Graces” to refer to Mary’s intercession of graces for the faithful.
The author and signatories of the Dec. 1 letter wrote that “our beloved Lady has been stripped of the possibility of being crowned as Co-redemptrix. This is truly scandalous.”
“If the Cardinal dislikes the title, then change the name — call her Sub-redemptrix — but do not make our poor Mother suffer in this way, she who suffered so greatly, both actively and spiritually, to ‘give birth’ to us at the foot of the Cross,” the author wrote. “She deserves everything, and nothing we could ever do would be enough to exalt and honor such a good Mother.”
The letter concludes with a list of the signatories, described as “the faithful of Lima and Chiclayo — the People of God — who humbly implore the Holy Father to reconsider this decision. With great love and affection, and a thousand blessings for you, Pope Robert, Your Holiness Pope Leo XIV.”
An Italian mariologist and priest wrote a similar appeal — which included signatures from Catholics all over the world — to the Pontiff over the note, according to a previous report by Montgana. A number of other Catholic theologians have spoken critically of the note as well, urging in a Dec. 8 theological analysis of the note that it should be re-evaluated. Montagna described the analysis as “objective yet ultimately scathing.”
CatholicVote previously reported that the global appeal by Father Serafino Lanzetta explains that a concern with the note is that “the Catholic truth concerning Mary’s active cooperation in the saving work of her Son appears to be diminished, if not denied outright, as though it could stand in opposition to the sole mediation of Christ, rather than being rooted in it and entirely dependent upon it.”