Why is Mary referred to as "Immaculate Conception"?

Answer 1

A summary of
Catholic Catechesis on the
Blessed Virgin Mary

"What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ."

Catechism of the Catholic Church (487)

Immaculate Conception
Pope Pius IX, in 1854, definitively proclaimed that: "The Most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin" (Ineffabilis Deus).
This means that Mary, predestined by God to be the mother of Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, was sealed against all sin and its effects. She was conceived in her mother’s womb in the fullness of God’s grace and did not know concupiscence, which is the propensity or unruly desire toward sin inherited by all other human beings from Adam and Eve. Therefore Mary was completely without sin and always possessed the fullness of virtue, particularly of faith, hope and charity.


Divine Motherhood
At the Ecumenical Council in Ephesus (431 AD), the Blessed Virgin Mary was proclaimed "Theotokos," a Greek term, which is literally translated as "Birth-giver of God."
In the Gospel of Luke, Elizabeth greets Mary as "the mother of my Lord" (1:43). Since the earliest era of Christianity, it has been acknowledged that the Blessed Virgin conceived and gave birth to a Divine Person, Jesus, the Son of God. Hence, Mary is rightly venerated as the Mother of God. Only by acknowledgment of Mary’s Divine Maternity can faith in Jesus’ Divinity be upheld.


Perpetual Virginity
The Gospel narrative of the Annunciation states: "the angel Gabriel was sent from God … to a virgin … and the virgin's name was Mary" (cf. Luke 1:26-27). The Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, foretold the virginal conception of the Messiah as well: "the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel" (7:14). Matthew’s Gospel repeats this prophecy (cf. 1:23), and from the beginning of Christian religion it has been defined that Mary was "ever-virgin," that is, not only before Jesus’ birth but throughout her life.
Gospel translations of "brothers and sisters" of Jesus pertain to His close relatives and friends. St. Basil (329-379) wrote that the "friends of Christ do not tolerate hearing that the Mother of God ever ceased being a virgin." St. Ambrose (339-397) authored a treatise on "the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Mary," and Pope Siricius declared in 392 that Mary was a "perpetual virgin."


Bodily Assumption into Heaven
The Church has never issued a definitive declaration about the end of Mary’s earthly life. Eastern Christianity celebrates Mary’s Dormition (falling asleep), while theologians in the West posit that Mary died in imitation of the bodily death of Jesus. Pope Pius XII solemnly proclaimed in 1950 however that Mary was taken body and soul into heaven, confirming a belief that had been held and observed for more than a millennium.
God accorded Mary this privilege in honor of her Divine Maternity, her complete sinlessness, her spotless chastity, and for her share in her Son’s redemptive work in the world. Mary’s bodily assumption also anticipates the glorified body and place in heaven to be awarded to the faithful at the end of time.

Answer 2

Because in Catholicism, it is generally held that Mary was spared from original sin by God when she was conceived. She is also said to have lived a sin-free life. God created her as a pure vessel for the virgin birth of Christ to occur.

A lot of people are under the misconception that the virgin birth and immaculate conception are the same thing. Immaculate conception has to do with Mary's own conception, while the virgin birth has to do with Jesus' entrance into the world.

Answer 3

Immaculate Conception is mistakenly thought to refer to the fact that Mary conceived Jesus without a human father. The correct term for this is simply "virgin birth."

The Bible states that because of the "fall of man," every human being is born corrupt, meaning the basic nature of each and every person is of original sin.

Immaculate Conception is exclusively a Catholic doctrine that claims Mary was born without original sin.

Answer 4

Mary is not referred to as immaculate conception, The conception of Jesus is the immaculate conception.

Answer 5

LOL... just read all those 'Christian' answers... absolutely WRONG. Now let the atheist tell you.

"Immaculate Conception" is the church doctrine that Mary, alone of all people, was born free from 'original sin'.

Answer 6

To the Christians, sex is dirty. Immaculate means without flaw, clean.

Mary did not have sex with a man to conceive.

God impregnated her with Jesus (so the story goes).

To me, that's all pretty dirty in itself, means Mary cheated on Joseph and got knocked up by a ghost.

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

Answer 7

Immacualate conception is the virgin birth by Mary. It is a miracle y'know. Of course you understand virgins can't have children. Mary is often refered to as the Holy Virgin, or the Madonna.

Answer 8

i'm an paintings historian who has continually ordinary this, no longer least with the aid of fact the stainless thought of the Virgin has been a fairly widespread subject in paintings. yet i've got met many, lots of people who've thought that it suggested Jesus. Thorhall, you nonetheless do no longer understand. the stainless thought is the belief of Mary in her mom, Anne, no longer the belief of Jesus in Mary. In different words, Mary became conceived, via her mothers and fathers, with out sin. Or so the doctrine claims.

Answer 9

Mary conceived by Holy Spirit not by man.She conceived or received Holyness within.

Answer 10

Because it was said she became pregnant with the child without having sex to do so.