as she is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen, as Pius XII wrote: Mary as Mother of the Church The title Mother of the Church (in Latin Mater Ecclesiae) was officially given to the Virgin Mary during the Second Vatican Council by Pope Paul VI. This title goes back to Ambrose of Milan in the 4th century, but this use was not known until its 1944 rediscovery by Hugo Rahner. Rahner's Mariology, following Ambrose, saw Mary in her role within the church, his interpretation being based solely on Ambrose and the early Fathers. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the Virgin Mary is mother of the church and of all its members, namely all Christians: Pope Paul VI's Credo of the People of God states: 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": Pope Benedict XVI also referred to the Credo of Paul VI and stated that it sums up all of the scriptural texts that relate to the matter. In his homily on 2015 New Year's Day, Pope Francis said that Jesus and his mother Mary are "inseparable", just like Jesus and the church. Mary is "the Mother of the Church, and through the Church, the mother of all men and women, and of every people". Mediatrix In Catholic teachings, Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. He alone reconciled through his death on the Cross creator and creation. But this does not exclude a secondary mediating role for Mary, preparatory, supportive; in the view of several prominent, but not all, Catholics. The teaching that Mary intercedes for all believers and especially those who request her intercession through prayer has been held in the church since early times; for example, by Ephraim, the Syrian: "after the mediater a mediatrix for the whole world. Mediation is something that can be said of all the heavenly saints, but Mary is seen as having the greatest power of mediation. The earliest surviving recorded prayer to Mary is the Sub tuum praesidium, written in Greek. Mary has increasingly been seen as a principal dispenser of God's graces and Advocate for the