A Catholic parish priest in Torrelavega, Cantabria, told churchgoers during an August 15 sermon that the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was mere mythology.
Addressing attendees at the parish of the Assumption during Mass, the priest stated that Marian titles celebrating her queenship were also mythical, offering what he presented as a theology lesson to churchgoers and popes he described as ignorant.
Papal decree and liturgical calendar history
The controversy coincided with the August 22 feast of the Queenship of Mary, which commemorates the Virgin under the title of Santa Maria Reina. Pope Pius XII instituted the liturgical celebration in 1954 for May 31, coinciding with the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
Pius XII established her queenship while crowning her at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome. He also promulgated the encyclical Ad Coeli Reginam, the primary magisterial document on Marian dignity, which stated that Christians have long recognized Mary as Queen because she is the mother of the King of kings and Lord of lords, deriving her authority from her son Jesus Christ.
Following the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI revised the liturgical calendar and moved the feast to August 22. The new date places the celebration within the octave of August 15, eight days after the solemnity of her bodily Assumption into heaven.
Dogmatic origins and papal teachings
Church records trace the title of Queen back to the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD, which declared the first Marian dogma by defining Mary as the Mother of God. Saint John Paul II noted in 1997 that public devotion to her as Queen of the universe expanded rapidly after that ecumenical council.
John Paul II explained that the title of Queen does not replace her role as Mother, but instead reflects the authority granted to her to carry out a maternal mission over humanity. He added that her Assumption enables her to remain close to believers and accompany them on their daily earthly journeys.
The town of Torrelavega is an industrial center in the northern Spanish region of Cantabria. In Catholic theology, a dogma represents an officially defined doctrine considered divinely revealed, while an octave marks an eight-day period of religious observance following a major feast day.
Marian titles in Catholic devotion
Catholic devotional traditions incorporate her royal status into regular prayers. The Glorious Mysteries of the Holy Rosary honor Mary as assumed into heaven and crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth.
Additionally, the Litany of Loreto invokes her under numerous royal titles, including Queen of Angels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, and Peace, while also referring to her as the handmaid of the Lord.
Commentator Jorge Fernandez Diaz reported the details of the sermon in an opinion column published on August 23, highlighting the contrast between traditional Marian veneration and the remarks delivered in Cantabria.
