According to Catholic Theology and Catechism, the Virgin Mary, “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” This means that Mary was transported into Heaven with her body and soul united. The Feast Day of recognizing Mary’s passage into Heaven is celebrated as The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Catholic Church-East and West. This doctrine was dogmatically and infallibly defined by Pope Pius XII on 1 November 1950 in his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus. The Assumption of Mary into heaven (often also called the Dormition) is also taught by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental and Coptic Orthodox Churches. In those denominations that observe it, the Assumption is commonly celebrated on August 15.
In his August 15, 2004 homily given at Lourdes, Pope John Paul II quoted John 14:3 from the Bible as a scriptural basis for understanding the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, where Christ, in his Last Supper discourses, explained that “When I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also”. According to Catholic theology, Mary is the pledge of the fulfillment of Christ’s promise. However, many theologians disagree with this interpretation of Scripture, and believe that Christ was speaking about his preparation of Calvary and the crucifixion for the remission of sins.
In Roman Catholic theology, the human condition of mortality is a consequence of Original Sin. However, the Roman Catholic Church also holds that Mary was conceived without original sin-the Immaculate Conception. Thus, logically, she could not be subject to death or at least in the same way as other humans. The idea of the Assumption, therefore, is that Mary passed from this life to our future state being “assumed” or taken “up” body and soul into the state of heaven.
The Assumption is important to Catholics as the Virgin Mary’s heavenly birthday. Her acceptance into the glory of Heaven is seen by them as the symbol of the promise made by Jesus to all enduring Christians that they too will be received into paradise.
The Roman Catholic Feast of the Assumption is celebrated on August 15, and the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos (the falling asleep of the Mother of God) on the same date, preceded by a 14-day fast period. Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that Mary died a natural death, that her soul was received by Christ upon death, and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her death and that she was taken up into heaven bodily and anticipation of the general resurrection. Her tomb was found empty on the third day. She has passed beyond death and judgment, and lives wholly in the Age to Come. The Resurrection of the Body has in her case been anticipated and is already an accomplished fact. That does not mean, however, that she is dissociated from the rest of humanity and placed in a wholly different category: for we all hope to share one day in that same glory of the Resurrection of the Body which she enjoys even now. Eastern Catholics also observe the Fest of the Dormition. Many theologians note by way of comparison that in the Roman Catholic Church, the Assumption is dogmatically defined, while in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, the Dormition is less dogmatically than liturgically and mystically defined.