Note the following from a Catholic scholar who claims that the Immaculate Conception teaches that mary was free from original sin at birth and it is built on Mary's miraculous birth(!) Anyone familiar with Ineffabilis Deus (December 8, 1854) will realize this is not accurate:
. . . a second-century document known as the Protoevangelium of James attests to the very early belief in the Immaculate Conception and Perpetual Virginity of Mary. The Immaculate Conception is a doctrine built on the tradition that Mary’s own birth was miraculous (though not virginal), in that she was born exempt from the effects of original sin, which resulted in her living her whole life without any personal sin. (James L. Papandrea, Reading the Church Fathers: A History of the Early Church and the Development of Doctrine [Manchester, N.H.: Sophia Institute Press, 2022], 107)
