The Immaculate Conception, Explained
The question
If everyone's born with original sin, how can the Church claim Mary wasn't?
Scripture · Luke 1:28
And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!"
A short answer
First, a common mix-up worth clearing: the Immaculate Conception is about Mary's conception, not Jesus'. It means Mary herself was conceived without original sin. And yes, the objection is real — Scripture says "all have sinned" (Romans 3:23). So how does Mary get an exception?
The key word is redeemed. Mary wasn't saved apart from Christ; she was saved more completely by Him. Most of us are pulled out of the pit after we've fallen in. Mary was kept from falling in at all — by the same grace of Christ, just applied at the first instant of her existence. She even calls God "my Savior" (Luke 1:47), because she absolutely needed saving. God simply did it preemptively. Think of someone caught before they trip versus someone helped up after. Both are rescued; one rescue is just more thorough.
Why would God do this? Because she was to carry God Himself in her body. "Full of grace" in Luke 1:28 hints at a soul completely God's from the start. The Catechism states it plainly: Mary was, "by a singular grace and privilege... preserved immune from all stain of original sin" from the first moment of her conception (CCC 491). The Church defined this in 1854, but it's the unfolding of what the angel already greeted in her. It's not Mary escaping Christ's salvation — it's Christ's salvation shown at its most beautiful.