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"For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;" Luke 1:48 ESV

How come Protestants object to honoring Mary when she herself said that in the Bible?

[jimwalton]

Mary calls herself blessed because she understands enough about messianic expectation to know that she will be remembered in history.

I have no objection to honoring Mary. I do object to worshipping her, seeing her as a mediator, or perceiving her in the role of co-redemptrix.

First, notice that she recognizes her essential humility, which would say to me she is not seeking worship or exaltation. She knows she has been chosen by grace, and not by her deserving it. In those days of regulated class distinctions and a generally impossibility of changing one’s station in life, it would be expected that the privilege of such blessing would belong to the privileged of class or role (priest). Mary is in humble adoration that God has chosen one so small and insignificant for His blessing.

The term for "blessed" (makariousin) implies indwelt by God. Her recognition that God is using her in a significant role is a very different thing from the worship of Mary (Mariolatry) in the Roman Catholic Church. It's the same term used in the Beatitudes of Mt. 5.3-11, so we shouldn't read anything divine or worthy of worship in it.