A major Marian conference in Rome next month aims to reaffirm the Blessed Virgin Mary’s unique role in salvation history and to help the faithful grow in their devotion to the Mother of God.

The conference, entitled De Maria numquam satis(“Of Mary, one can never say enough”), will take place Oct. 7-8 and will reflect on the mystery of the Blessed Virgin Mary in doctrine, worship and history.

Speakers will include Cardinal Raymond Burke, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, papal theologian Dominican Father Wojciech Giertych, and the German Mariologist professor Manfred Hauke.

The conference is intended to “shed new light by connecting doctrine with lived piety,” showing how Our Lady opens, in the words of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, “vast horizons onto the wisdom and mercy of God,” says one of the organizers, Virginia Coda Nunziante.

In this Sept. 3 interview with the Register, Coda Nunziante, president of the Italian pro-life group Associazione Famiglia Domani and founder of the Italian March for Life, shares more details of the conference and why it is not intended to fuel controversy following the Vatican’s much-contested diminution of two ancient Marian titles last year.

Rather, she says, the seminar aims to restore “theological clarity” around Mary, stressing that Marian devotion “is not an optional ornament of Catholic life, but an intrinsic dimension of it.” Coda Nunziante hopes that, at a time of much spiritual emptiness, each participant will leave knowing “how God willed to involve Mary in salvation, how the Church has always honored her, and how turning to her helps me follow Christ more closely today.”

Virginia, why is De Maria numquam satis a necessary conference now, and how did it come about?

The conference arose from the initiative of several Catholic associations and individuals eager to pay homage to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We live in a time when the figure of Our Lady risks being pushed to the margins of theological reflection and spiritual life, while her unique role in the history of salvation is sometimes downplayed or obscured. It therefore seemed necessary to reaffirm, with clarity and serenity, the singular cooperation of the Mother of God in the work of redemption and the place that belongs to her in the life of the Church.

The conference, which will take place in Rome on Oct. 7-8 at the Pontifical Patristic Institute Augustinianum, is not intended as the culmination of a reflection, but rather as a starting point. Our hope is that it will help give rise to a genuine Marian movement, capable of involving priests, religious and laypeople in the shared commitment to know, love and promote devotion to Mary.