Mother of the Church
[6] In the 1895 encyclical Adjutricem populi (Helper of the People) Pope Leo XIII wrote, "She is invoked as Mother of the Church and the teacher and Queen of the Apostles".
The use of the Mater Ecclesiae title to the Virgin Mary goes back to Ambrose of Milan in the 4th century, but this was not known until its 1944 rediscovery by Hugo Rahner.
[11] During his speech upon the closing of the third session of the Second Vatican Council on November 21, 1964, Paul VI said: "We declare Mary Most Holy Mother of the Church, that is, of all the Christian people"[9] In Redemptoris Mater Pope John Paul II referred to Paul VI's "Credo of the People of God" as a reaffirmation of the statement that Mary is the "mother of the entire Christian people, both faithful and pastors" and wrote that the Credo "restated this truth in an even more forceful way":[12] In 1980, during the UNIV Forum,[13] an annual gathering of university students from all over the world held in Rome during Holy Week and born by inspiration of Saint Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, a young man taking part in the gathering told Pope John Paul II that he was not able to find an image of Our Lady in St. Peter's Square, considered the heart of Christendom.
When Blessed Álvaro del Portillo, successor of Saint Josemaría Escrivá, heard this story, he asked the Spanish architect Javier Cotelo to find a good solution for the image.
The pope accepted the suggestion and on December 7, 1981, a mosaic of Maria Mater Ecclesiae ("Our Lady, Mother of the Church") was installed following Cotelo's proposal.
In 1987, John Paul repeated this title Mother of the Church in his encyclical Redemptoris Mater and at a general audience on September 17, 1997.
On September 17, 1997, Pope John Paul II devoted a Wednesday general audience to the title "Mother of the Church" with regard to its application to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Pope Benedict XVI referred to the Credo of Paul VI and stated that it sums up all of the scriptural texts that relate to the matter.
