(LifeSiteNews) — Social media influencer Pearl Davis has Catholics scratching their heads with her latest remarks on the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Davis is a 20-something podcaster with 1.9 million subscribers on YouTube. She has been called by some the female version of Andrew Tate.
Tate, for those who are unfamiliar, is an uber wealthy Romanian “alpha male” who has made many public appearances defending traditional gender roles. He often posts videos online jet-setting around the world with his brother while smoking cigars. Despite his shallow lifestyle, he has a talent for exposing the problems associated with feminism and modern dating.
Davis is from Chicago but lives in London now. She has grown in popularity because she, like Tate, is unafraid to push back against wokeism. She often points out how marriage laws are bad for men and that most women are delusional in what they think they deserve in a spouse.
Davis was raised Catholic. She has recently taken a blow torch to what she calls the hypocritical posturing of “Christian trad wives” who either have a promiscuous past, are controlling of their husbands, or act no differently than non-Christian women.
“Pearl,” as she has come to be known, expounded on her ideas while appearing on cultural critic Jason Whitlock’s podcast. During the exchange, Pearl said she is rethinking her faith because of the Church’s teachings on the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“I recently started reconsidering Catholicism. And the reason being … I’ve noticed patterns in society and in history. And one pattern I’ve noticed is that we tend to elevate women higher than they should be and say they’re more special and awesome than they are. And recently I’ve had the thought wondering if the Catholic Church did that with Mary. But I’m not sure. I still go to Catholic Church now. But it’s kind of, I can’t get that thought out of my mind recently,” she said.
Pearl’s remarks provoked intense reaction on X, formerly Twitter.
“Giving birth to Christ doesn’t make one special?” one user asked. “Our Blessed Mother is the highest creature in all creation. She is even higher than the angels! The elevation of femininity in Catholicism is good and true,” Deacon Harrison Garlick of the Tulsa Diocese said.
Other users touched on similar themes. “The most powerful, the most efficacious and loving created being of all time is a woman,” one man clarified. “She’s trying to examine the Church through her political ideology. Church dogma is transcendent,” another person commented.
Still more users shared their belief that Davis is descending into a warped outlook on womanhood overall.
“Pearl degrades femininity by making a stereotype and a caricature of it … that’s why she can’t recognize or see the true feminine majesty of Our Mother,” one user said. “She isn’t wrong that when cultures start worshiping women and putting them ahead of men they fall. But she twists everything into an anti-female bias,” another remarked.
Theologically speaking, the Church’s teaching on Mary is easily defensible, and should be more closely examined by Ms. Davis.
The Gospel of Luke tells us that Mary is “Blessed among women” and that “all generations” will call her blessed. It also says that St. John the Baptist “leapt for joy” in the womb of his mother, St. Elizabeth, who was “filled with the Holy Spirit” when Mary addressed her. The Holy Spirit was thus dwelling in Mary beforehand.
In St. John’s Gospel, Mary is shown asking Our Lord at the Wedding Feast of Cana to turn the water into wine. He complies with her request, thus illustrating her unique ability to intercede for us with Him.
Further on in the Gospel of Luke, a woman raises her voice while Christ is preaching. She says, “Blessed is the womb that bore thee.” To which Our Lord responds, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!” The proper interpretation of the original Greek of this passage means something to the effect of, “Indeed, and also are those blessed who hear the Word of God and keep it.”
Catholicism, therefore, holds that there is a unique veneration that is owed to Mary. This is called “hyperdulia” in contrast to the “latria” that is owed to God alone. “Dulia” is what Catholics owe to saints and other holy persons.
Lastly, when a woman is pregnant, cells from the unborn child travel to her body, thereby making them not only a united pair but something much more. As the mother of Christ, Mary had elements of the actual physical body of Jesus, the Son of God, inside her. To elevate her above all other creatures with a special devotion and honor is thus most fitting and not in any way inappropriate, as Ms. Davis suggests. Pray that Davis, like Our Lady in Luke 2:19 did, reflects on these things and ponders them in her heart so that she doesn’t fall away from the faith that she was raised with.