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Step 1
Know that the dogma does not concern Christ's sinless birth-that is a major misconception. Rather, it deals with the sinless birth of His mother, Mary. Whereas Christ was born of a human mother and the Holy Spirit, Mary was born of two human parents. While other humans must wait until baptism to receive sanctifying grace, Mary received it at the moment of her conception. She was therefore preserved against the stain and penalties of Original Sin.
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Step 2
Consider that the point of this belief is that for God to enter the world in a human form to serve as a perfect sacrifice for sin, much as unblemished lambs were used as sacrifices in Old Testament times, He had to enter it via a human womb that was pure of all sin. An illustration of this dogma can be found in Luke 1:28 in the account of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel greeted Mary by saying, "Hail, full of grace." This clearly means that Mary was already spotless and without sin.
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Step 3
Consider that this dogma was proclaimed in 1854 by Pope Pius IX in his encyclical "Ineffabilis Deus," but it had long been part of Catholic tradition. The fathers of the Church drew parallels between Adam and Eve and Christ and Mary. Just as the first Adam's sin condemned the human race and the "New Adam," Christ, saved it, the first Eve was the one who tempted Adam to sin and was the conduit for damnation, and the "New Eve," Mary, was the conduit of grace, through which the Savior entered the world. Mary was as sinless as Eve was before the Fall, the chief difference being that Mary did not ever yield to sin.
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Step 4
Consider that further confirmation of this dogma was given in 1858 when the Virgin Mary appeared in Lourdes to the poorly-educated peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous. When the girl asked the apparition who she was, she replied, "I am the Immaculate Conception." There is little likelihood that Bernadette had heard this term before that time.
