James White’s Faulty List: Pope Leo the Great and the Immaculate Conception

There is a list going around with eight Popes that supposedly denied the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Mother of God.  James White likes to talk about this list constantly and it can be found on his website.  Here is the link:

How Many Popes Does it Take to Deny the Immaculate Conception?

So there is the article with the eight Popes.  The first Pope on the list is Pope Leo the Great.  Most of the quotes with Pope Leo are general and not absolute.  For example, here is the first quote from Sermon 21 on the Nativity:

There is for all one common measure of joy, because as our Lord the destroyer of sin and death finds none free from charge, so is He come to free us all.

When I look at this quote I see a general and not an absolute statement.  We’ve all fallen short.  Does that mean that there are no exceptions?  Jude 1:4 talks about Christ being our only Lord but Luke 2:22 says that the Father is Lord.  Obviously Jude 1:4 is a general and not an absolute statement.  I would say the same thing about Romans 3:23 which states for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

There is only one quote in White’s list of Pope Leo’s quotes that specifically address the Blessed Virgin herself.  Here is the quote:

And to this end, without male seed Christ was conceived of a Virgin, who was fecundated not by human intercourse but by the Holy Spirit. And whereas in all mothers conception does not take place without stain of sin, this one received purification from the Source of her conception.

– Pope Leo the Great, Sermon 22, Chapter 3

This seems to lean toward the Immaculate Conception in my opinion.  The source of her conception can simply be replaced with God.  We can re-read the second sentence as follows:

And whereas in all mothers conception does not take place without stain of sin, this one received purification from God.

It seems that the topic is the stain of sin.  It then moves to Mary which is an obvious exception to the rule.  However, one may reasonably ask when this purification came?  It seems to hint at the conception though it could be said that it comes right after the conception and therefore the Immaculate Conception would be impossible.  What else do we find where Pope Leo specifically addresses the conception of Mary?

In another Sermon Pope Leo says:

And each one is a partaker of this spiritual origin in regeneration; and to every one when he is re-born, the water of baptism is like the Virgin’s womb; for the same Holy Spirit fills the font, Who filled the Virgin, that the sin, which that sacred conception overthrew, may be taken away by this mystical washing.

– Pope Leo the Great, Sermon 24, Chapter 3

Pope Leo is saying that the conception overthrew sin just like baptism overthrows our sin.  Since life begins at conception, obviously sin would have to exist prior to conception.  The only way to make sense of this is to say that the original sin that was ready to be imprinted on the soul of the Virgin was stopped by the conception; her Immaculate Conception.  That’s the only way to make sense out of it.  However, we’re not done yet.  If we go back to Sermon 22 we have a special treat at the end of the Sermon.  It’s probably the most clear quote from Pope Leo on this subject.

Cherish an undoubting belief in the Virgin’s pure conception.

– Pope Leo the Great, Sermon 22, Chapter 6

If the conception is pure, obviously no sin ever touched the Virgin.  It was ready to but by a special favour of God, her conception was made immaculate.  That’s the only way to understand what Pope Leo is saying.  This is the first Pope on James White’s list of the eight who supposedly denied the Immaculate Conception.  I have a strange feeling that if I went down the list I’d be able to debunk a few more.