The Catholic Church traditionally dedicates the month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and spiritual mother of all Christians.
This devotion is not a sentimental addition to the Faith, nor a pious custom detached from doctrine. It belongs to the Church’s contemplation of Christ. Mary is honoured because of her unique place in the mystery of the Incarnation: she is the Virgin of Nazareth who, by her fiat, became the Mother of the Redeemer.
Pope Benedict XVI repeatedly insisted that authentic Marian devotion is inseparable from Scripture and from the mystery of Christ. Preaching on the Assumption, he said that in praising Mary the Church had not invented something “adjacent” to Scripture, but was responding to Mary’s own prophecy in the Magnificat: “Henceforth all generations will call me blessed.”
