The early Christians honored the Blessed Mother and put her on a pedestal because of her significant role in the redemption of mankind. The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary was a belief held by the Fathers of the Church that the Blessed Virgin Mary was immaculately conceived from the first instance/moment of her conception. Pope Pius IX didn’t invent the belief from nowhere. He echoed an age-old belief that the Virgin Mary was sinless, pure, and spotless from the moment of her conception. Pope Pius IX in the bull, Ineffabilis Deus (The Ineffable God), published on December 8, 1854, says,

“We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.” 

This takes us back to the first reading in the book of Genesis 3: 9-19, 20 which illustrated the despair of mankind by blaming and pointing fingers at each other for all the troubles of the world except him and her. After the fall, things fell apart. The troubles and tragedies, fears and anxieties, as well as the endless (vicious) cycle of violence and the perpetration of evil experienced at this juncture of history are consequences of the first fall. We may claim that things even got worse even after Christ redeemed the world. The disconnect and dissociation between sin and death is the new normal. The biggest temptation is the make-believe which is the work tempter represented by the cunning serpent, that there is no consequence. The crisis of evil is a spiritual crisis.

Genesis 3: 15 depicts the first clue, the first gospel or protovangelium, or the first hint of Christian Redemption. This is the text that lays down the promise of redemption that in spite of their banishment from paradise, despite the troubled circumstances in life, God would still redeem humankind. In Christian parlance, the new Adam is Jesus Christ, and the new Eve is the Virgin Mary. In order to save the world, for God to enter the world of human history so deeply and profoundly, the woman in later prophecy, who would give birth to the Son of God must be pure, sinless, and spotless. Hence, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.