Hello Everyone.
I see a lot of misunderstanding comming from a lot of protestants about the status of Mary in the Catholic Church.
Mary is not a God, Mary is not worshiped and Mary is not Divine in any way.
But Mary is very Special, she is the Mother of God the Flesh, she deserves respect, honor and veneration.
Now to the original question, do Catholics pray to Mary?
Below is the most common form of prayer to the blessed Virgin.
"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen
I think before we go any further it is important to understand the forms of prayer.
Prayer takes five different forms:
1. Blessing and Adoration,
2. Petition,
3. Intercession,
4. Thanksgiving,
5. Praise.
First and foremost, and let us make no mistake about this, Catholics do not worship Mary. The "Hail Mary" takes the form of a prayer of petition. We are imploring the Blessed Virgin Mary's intercession.
So in essence we are simply asking Mary, the Mother of God to pray for us.
Luke 1: 46-56 ("from now onwards all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me".)
Although it is true that Christ is the only mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), Mary’s intercessory role through her special relationship with Jesus is very clear in Scripture:
a. John 2: 1-10
b. Luke 8: 19-21
c. John 19: 25-27
d. Acts 1: 14
If you believe Christ is the only mediator, then why do you ask your pastors to pray for you? Why not ask Jesus directly?
In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he tells Christians to intercede for each other: “I desire therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all men: For kings and for all that are in high station: that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all piety and chastity. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God: and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: Who gave himself a redemption for all, a testimony in due times. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle (I say the truth, I lie not), a doctor of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I will therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up pure hands, without anger and contention.” (1 Cor. 2:1-11).
Unfortunately some Christians start reading this statement starting at verse 5 where it says “For there is one God; and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus” and totally miss the point. The point is not that Christians cannot intercede for each other; Paul just asked them to do exactly that and said it is good and acceptable in the sight of God.
The fact that Jesus is our one Mediator is used as a reason to show how we are able to intercede for each other.
All Christians ask other saints/Mary to pray for them. Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Armenians, Coptics, and all other groups that broke from the Church before the 1500s seek the intercession of saints in heaven and of the saints on earth.
Some of the more recent groups of Christians (Protestants), however, see no problem with asking other Christians on earth to pray for them, but never ask those in heaven to intercede for them. The Bible tells Christians to pray for each other. The saints in heaven don’t start disobeying this command once they get to heaven. They continue to pray for us still here on earth.
Hope this helps
In good Faith