Church history is undeniably linked to the history of Mary

Since the Lord Jesus, in the person of the apostle John, gave his mother to all who believed in him as the Son of God and Redeemer of humanity (see John 19:25-27), Church history for the past two thousand years has been undeniably linked to the history of Mary. In response to her love, for centuries the Church has venerated Mary as her Mother—as Mother of the Church.

This official title attributed to Mary is quite recent. It appeared in the fall of 1964 at the conclusion of the Third Session of the Second Vatican Council, which declared the Blessed Virgin Mary “Mother of the Church, that is to say of all Christian people—the faithful as well as the pastors—who call her the most loving Mother” and established that “the Mother of God should be further honored and invoked by the entire Christian people by this tenderest of titles.”

In response to the Pope's initiative, the Polish Bishops in 1971 were the first in the world to establish the feast of the Mother of the Church by indicating the Monday after Pentecost as the most appropriate day for this feast. On February 11, 2018, in a decree issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Pope Francis decided that the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, should be inscribed in the Roman Calendar on the Monday after Pentecost and be now celebrated every year.

The title "Mother of the Church" contains an immeasurable wealth of meaning: it refers to the depth of the mystery of motherhood contained in the word "mother," but also to "the Church" who gives birth to life in God.

Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski of Krakow

In his homily of May 6, 2018, during the renewal Mass of Mary as patroness of Luxembourg.

La Croix