A History of Christian Doctrine #3 - Online Christian Library

Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy
The pope did not specify whether Mary actually died
before she was taken up into heaven, but most Catholic
theologians believe that she did. There is a Roman
Catholic church in Jerusalem that commemorates the
place where she was supposedly laid to rest.
Pius XII’s official pronouncement, Munifidentissimus
Deus, states: 252
The majestic mother of God . . . finally achieved,
as the supreme crown of her privileges, that she
should be preserved immune from the corruption of
the tomb and, like her Son before her, having conquered
death should be carried up, in body and soul,
to the celestial glory of heaven, there to reign as
Queen at the right hand of her Son, the immortal king
of the ages.
This doctrine is the latest in a series of steps that have
elevated Mary almost to the status of a goddess. From the
Middles Ages onward, Catholics have often called her
Queen of Heaven and Mediatrix. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII
stated that “nothing is bestowed on us except through
Mary, as God himself wills. Therefore as no one can draw
near to the supreme Father except through the Son, so
also one can scarcely draw near to the Son except
through his mother.” 253
The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) resisted efforts
to further define and exalt Mary’s position, but as the end
of the century drew near, a movement arose to take yet
another step in glorifying Mary. By 1997 the pope
received petitions from 157 nations on every inhabited
continent with over four million signatures asking him to
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