Mary was conceived without Original Sin. What is the term for this dogma?

• A. Immaculate Conception
• B. Assumption
• C. Perpetual Virginity
• D. Mediation

Answer: (A)

The main idea being tested is Mary’s sinlessness from the moment of her conception. The term for this belief is the Immaculate Conception, which holds that Mary was preserved free from original sin by God’s grace from the very moment she was conceived in her mother’s womb. This isn’t about Jesus’s conception or about Mary's virginity or her role as mediator; it specifically names Mary’s own conception as free from the stain of original sin. The doctrine was formally defined as dogma in the 19th century (Pope Pius IX, 1854) to affirm that Mary was uniquely prepared to bear the Incarnate Word. In contrast, the Assumption refers to Mary being taken body and soul into heaven, Perpetual Virginity to her virginal state before, during, and after Jesus’s birth, and Mediation (or Mary as mediator) is a different theological concept. So, the term for Mary conceived without Original Sin is Immaculate Conception.