Catholic Culture Trusted Commentary
Catholic Culture Trusted Commentary

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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496 From the first formulations of her faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, affirming also the corporeal aspect of this event: Jesus was conceived "by the Holy Spirit without human seed". 146 The Fathers see in the virginal conception the sign that it truly was the Son of God who came in a humanity like our own. Thus St. Ignatius of Antioch at the beginning of the second century says:

You are firmly convinced about our Lord, who is truly of the race of David according to the flesh, Son of God according to the will and power of God, truly born of a virgin,. . . he was truly nailed to a tree for us in his flesh under Pontius Pilate. . . he truly suffered, as he is also truly risen. 147

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

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SECTION TWO: THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

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CHAPTER TWO: I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY SON OF GOD

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ARTICLE 3: "HE WAS CONCEIVED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND WAS BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY"

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Paragraph 2. "Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit and Born of the Virgin Mary"

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II....BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY

Notes for the above paragraph:

146 Council of the Lateran (649): DS 503; cf. DS 10-64.

147 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn 1-2: Apostolic Fathers, ed. J. B. Lightfoot (London: Macmillan, 1889), 11/2, 289-293; SCh 10, 154-156; cf. Rom 1:3; Jn 1:13.

English Translation of the Cathechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.

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