Mary’s Immaculate Conception, Explained by the Saints, by Dawn Beutner
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Detail from "The Immaculate Conception" (1767-69) by by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, in the Museo del Prado, Spain. (Wikipedia)
By Dawn Beutner, Catholic World Report, Dec. 8, 2025
Dawn Beutner is the editor of a new book All Things Are Possible: The Selected Writings of Mother Cabrini (Ignatius Press, 2025). She is also the author of The Leaven of the Saints: Bringing Christ into a Fallen World (Ignatius Press, 2023), and Saints: Becoming an Image of Christ Every Day of the Year also from Ignatius Press. She blogs at dawnbeutner.com and has been active in various pro-life ministries for more than thirty years.
The fact that this dogma was not defined for many centuries was one of the strongest arguments that it should be questioned. If this teaching were true, why was it not proclaimed until the nineteenth century?
The world was shocked when Pope Pius IX defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854. While Protestants rejected the teaching outright, even many Catholics objected to the pope’s decision. Exalting the role of Mary in salvation history not only seemed bad for ecumenical relations, but some were concerned that the teaching also lacked theological and historical grounds.Related posts
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