Feast of the Assumption (Christian)

Basics
The doctrine of the Assumption teaches that at the end of her life, Mary, the mother of Christ, was taken body and soul (i.e. both physically and spiritually) into heaven to live with her son (Christ) for ever.

Human beings have to wait until the end of time for their bodily resurrection, but Mary's body was able to go straight to heaven because her soul hadn't been tainted by original sin. 

Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on August 15th each year.

Catholic and Protestant views
This is an ancient teaching, first found in the 5th century, but it remains controversial to Protestants because it is not explicitly referred to in the Bible. The Roman Catholic Church bases the doctrine on other valid authority.

A report in 2005 by Anglican and Roman Catholic theologians found common ground (but not common authority) for belief in the Assumption:

"...we can affirm together the teaching that God has taken the Blessed Virgin Mary in the fullness of her person into his glory as consonant with Scripture and that it can, indeed, only be understood in the light of Scripture. Roman Catholics can recognize that this teaching about Mary is contained in the dogma."

Catholic doctrine

The doctrine proclaimed as infallible
The doctrine of the Assumption was proclaimed as infallible by the Pope Pius XII on All Saints Day 1950 in the bull (formal proclamation) Munificentissimus Deus.

"We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory."

This made it an important article of faith for Roman Catholics.

This was only the second, and also the last time that a Pope has proclaimed a doctrine to be infallible.

The Pope justified the Assumption not on Biblical authority but largely on:

• the "universal consensus of the Church"

• the theological "suitability" of the doctrine

Universal consensus of the Church
The "universal consensus of the Church" means that what the Church as a whole teaches and believes must be treated as a revealed and thus indisputable truth.

The Church can only reach such a consensus through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit cannot be wrong.

This doesn't mean that Church doctrine cannot change - theologians use the idea of "dogmatic progression", by which human ideas, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, slowly develop towards the real truth.

Once the real truth is established, the "universal consensus" of the Church then confirms it as an eternal truth.

Before proclaiming the doctrine Pope Puis XII made sure that there was really was a consensus in the Church. In 1946 he wrote to all the Roman Catholic bishops to ask them a) whether they thought the Assumption should become Catholic dogma, and b) whether the priests and the laity agreed with them. 99% of the bishops said yes.

Theological suitability
The other main argument for the Assumption was that it firred well with other Catholic teaching, and would reinforce believers' faith that they too would eventually go to heaven.

The Assumption was also clearly in harmony with other Catholic ideas about Mary:

• Her Immaculate conception 

• Her perpetual virginity

• Being the mother of God
  
  Theologians argued that the Mother of God could not be separated from God, and so must have been taken up to be with him in heaven