One reads the headlines from the modern Vatican with a growing sense of righteous indignation, and its latest conference concerning a “Mariological Study” is, tragically, no exception. Under the seemingly pious title, “Church needs to promote greater study, understanding of Mary,” we are presented with a masterclass in the art of deception, wherein the language of Catholic piety is deployed to subvert the Blessed Virgin Mary’s role in the triumph of the Faith.

It is our duty, therefore, to dissect this article, holding it up not to the modernist spirit of the age, but to the timeless and divinely inspired wisdom of Saint Louis-Marie Grignon de Montfort in his masterwork, The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Only by the light of this great saint’s work can we expose the deception, piece by piece.

1. The Deception of Ecumenical “Study”

The article begins by proudly announcing that Leo XIV welcomed scholars, including non-Catholics, such as Orthodox, Protestants, and even Muslims, to hold a conference on Mariology.

Let us be clear. This is not study; it is sabotage. The modern mind believes that truth is found through a dialogue of disparate opinions. The Catholic mind knows that Truth is a Person, Jesus Christ, and His doctrine is guarded by His one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. To invite those who deny the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, and the Divine Maternity itself to “study” the Mother of God is like inviting wolves to a council on the proper care of sheep.

St. Louis de Montfort exposes this folly with piercing clarity. He teaches that a lack of devotion to Mary is not a mere difference of opinion, but an “infallible mark of reprobation.” He writes:

“The most infallible and indubitable sign by which we may distinguish a heretic, a man of bad doctrine, a reprobate, from one of the predestinate, is that the heretic and the reprobate have nothing but contempt and indifference for our Blessed Lady… Alas! God the Father has not told Mary to dwell in them, for they are Esaus.” (Part I, Ch. I)

The synodal church seeks to build bridges with heretics; St. de Montfort reminds us that God Himself has put enmities between the children of Mary and the children of the serpent (Gen 3:15). Our Lady is not a point of common ground with heresy; she is its eternal foe, the one who alone has “destroyed all heresies in the whole world.” (Common of the BVM)

2. The Deception of a “Marian Face” for Synodality

The article speaks of a “Church with a Marian Face and Practice” in the context of “Jubilee and Synodality.” Leo XIV is quoted as calling Mary a “synodal woman” because she is engaged in the action of the Holy Spirit who summons those “who previously believed they had reasons to remain divided.”

To credit the Blessed Virgin as the force behind Synodality—the watchword for a horizontal, man-centered, and democratic church—is nothing short of sacrilege. She is not a “synodal woman”; she is the monarchical Queen of Heaven and Earth, the Sovereign, the Mistress to whom we owe allegiance. She does not dialogue with error; she commands angels and crushes the head of the devil.

St. Louis de Montfort teaches us the true relationship. We are not her colleagues in a synod; we are her loving slaves.

“There is nothing among Christians which makes us more absolutely belong to Jesus Christ and His holy Mother than the slavery of the will… We may, therefore, following the sentiments
of the Saints and of many great men, call ourselves, and make ourselves, the loving slaves of the most holy Virgin, in order to be by that very means the more perfectly the slaves of Jesus Christ… Our Blessed Lady is the means our Lord made use of to come to us. She is also the means which we must make use of to go to Him.” (Part I, Ch. II, Second Truth)

The synodal church seeks to reduce the Blessed Virgin to a mere instrument for its worldly project of humanistic unity; in stark contrast, true devotion seeks to make us slaves for her heavenly project: the reign of Christ the King.

3. The Deception of “Uncomfortable Questions”

The article praises a church that “does not shy away from asking… uncomfortable questions — ‘How shall this be?’” (Luke 1:34) This is a subtle but pernicious twisting of Our Lady’s words. Her question to the Archangel was not one of modern, skeptical doubt, but of humble, faith-filled inquiry as to the manner of God’s holy will. Having received the answer, her response was one of total, unquestioning submission: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:38)

St. Louis de Montfort identifies the true Marian virtue not as questioning, but as obedience.

“True devotion to our Lady is holy; that is to say, it leads the soul to avoid sin, and to imitate in the Blessed Virgin particularly her profound humility, her lively faith, her blind obedience, her continual prayer…” (Part I, Ch. II, 2.3)

The modern church champions the “uncomfortable question” as a virtue in itself, paving the way for perpetual doubt. The Faith of Our Lady is the antidote: a firm, unwavering assent to the will of God, however mysterious.

4. The Deception of a Worldly Piety

Leo XIV is quoted as saying that Marian piety “frees us from fatalism, superficiality and fundamentalism” and “takes all human realities seriously, starting with the least and the discarded.”

Here, the code is plain to see. “Fundamentalism” is the modern pejorative for those who hold fast to the unchanging dogmas of the Faith. Marian piety is presented not as a supernatural means to attain union with God and save one’s soul, but as a tool for destruction. It operates under a perverse perception of charity, bestowing “voice and dignity” upon the sinner, while refusing to protect the innocent or condemn the sin itself.

This fosters a death spiral fueled by unconstrained appeasement, all under the guise of giving dignity to those Leo XIV describes as, “sacrificed on the altars of ancient and new idols.” It is a world where evil sits at a banquet table, with an endless supply of souls upon which to feast. In truth, this new piety offers dignity not to the victims, but to the very perpetrators who worship at those profane altars.

St. Louis de Montfort’s devotion is diametrically opposed to this.

“Presumptuous devotees are sinners abandoned to their passions, or lovers of the world, who, under the fair name of Christians and clients of our Blessed Lady, conceal pride, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, anger, swearing, detraction, injustice, or some other sin. They sleep in peace in the midst of their bad habits, without doing any violence to themselves to correct their faults, under the pretext that they are devout to the Blessed Virgin. They promise themselves that God will pardon them; that they will not be allowed to die without confession; and that they will not be lost eternally, because they say the Rosary, because they fast on Saturdays, because they belong to the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, or wear the scapular…

Nothing in Christianity is more detestable than this diabolical presumption. For how can we say truly that we love and honour our Blessed Lady, when by our sins we are pitilessly piercing, wounding, crucifying, and outraging Jesus Christ her Son? If Mary laid down a law to herself, to save by her mercy this sort of people, she would be authorising crime, and assisting to crucify and outrage her Son. Who would dare to think such a thought as that?

I say, that thus to abuse devotion to our Lady… is to be guilty of a horrible sacrilege, which, after the sacrilege of an unworthy Communion, is the greatest and the least pardonable of all sacrileges.” (Part I, Chapter II, under the subheading “1. On False Devotions to our Lady,” on pages 66-68)

Conclusion: Two Different Marys

The deception of this Vatican article lies in its promotion of a Mary remade in the image of modern man: a partner in dialogue, a facilitator of worldly harmony, a questioner of authority. She is a Mary hollowed out, stripped of her sovereignty, and repurposed for a man centered rebellion.

The Mary of St. Louis de Montfort—the Mary of the Catholic Church—is the very opposite. She is the Queen, the Mother, the Mistress, the “terrestrial Paradise of the New Adam,” the “sealed fountain” of the Holy Ghost. One does not dialogue with her; one consecrates oneself to her. One does not “study” her with infidels; one learns her secrets through humble, loving slavery.

Let the faithful not be deceived. The call for a “greater study” of Mary is a veil for a lesser Mary. The true path is not in the conference halls of Rome, but in the humble recitation of the Rosary and the total consecration of our very being to her, that she may form in us the image of her Divine Son. As the great Saint prophesied, she will raise up

“This very foresight encourages me, and makes me hope for a great success; that is to say, for a great squadron of brave and valiant soldiers of Jesus and Mary, of both sexes, to combat the world, the devil, and corrupted nature in those more than ever perilous times which are about to come!” (Part I, Chapter II, on page 75)

These soldiers will not be formed by synodal dialogue, but by True Devotion.