The term "Immaculate Conception" is often mistaken to mean Mary's conception of Jesus through the Holy Spirit without a human partner. But it actually refers to Mary herself, who, according to Catholic Church beliefs, was a person born outside of the sinful nature that all other humans are born. According to the church, all of us are born into a state of "original sin," that is to say, we all are born into the state of sin through the fall of Adam. Humans are sinful by nature. But Mary is held to be different. She was conceived and held in her mother's womb by virtue of the foreseen merits of Jesus, her son. Mary is said to have lived without sin as well. Thus Jesus, God Incarnate, was born into this world through the one human who was without any stain of sin. The Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in December as well.
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