Pope explains Original Sin, evil in the light of Immaculate Conception

(December 8, 2008) Pope Benedict XVI used Monday’s solemn feast of the Immaculate Conception to explain the Church’s doctrine of Original Sin saying Christ’s victory over sin and evil shines in a very sublime manner in Mary Most Holy. The Pope spoke at the midday ‘Angelus’ prayer on December 8^th, a holiday both in Italy and the Vatican. The Catholic Church’s dogma of the Immaculate Conception, promulgated by Pope Pius IX in 1884, teaches that in view of the graces and merits of her son Jesus Christ, Mary was conceived in her mother’s womb without any stain of original sin, as a result of which she also lived a life completely free from sin. “The existence of what the Church calls ‘original sin’ is unfortunately evident in a chilling manner, if only we look around us and above all within us, “the Pope told a large holiday crowd in St. Peter’s Square. He said that the existence of evil is so consistent and overwhelming that we often ask ourselves: “Where does it come from?” The question of a believer is even more profound: “If God who has created everything is Absolute Good, where does evil come from?” In response, Pope Benedict pointed to the Book of Genesis of the Bible that says that God did not create death but death came in to the world because of the jealousy of Satan who misled man to rebel against God. It is a drama of freedom in which God promised that a son will be born of a woman who will crush the head of the ancient serpent. This woman, the Pope explained, has a face and a name: Mary, “Full of Grace,” the Mother of God, who was the first of be freed from the first fall of our first parents. Pope Benedict also greeted English-speaking pilgrims present at Monday’s ‘Angelus’. Listen: