40. Hence
the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus
Christ in one and the same decree of predestination,(47) immaculate in her
conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate
of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its
consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges,
that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that,
like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to
the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of
her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.(48)
41. Since
the universal Church, within which dwells the Spirit of Truth who infallibly
directs it toward an ever more perfect knowledge of the revealed truths, has
expressed its own belief many times over the course of the centuries, and since
the bishops of the entire world are almost unanimously petitioning that the
truth of the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven should be
defined as a dogma of divine and Catholic faith--this truth which is based on
the Sacred Writings, which is thoroughly rooted in the minds of the faithful,
which has been approved in ecclesiastical worship from the most remote times,
which is completely in harmony with the other revealed truths, and which has
been expounded and explained magnificently in the work, the science, and the
wisdom of the theologians - we believe that the moment appointed in the plan of
divine providence for the solemn proclamation of this outstanding privilege of
the Virgin Mary has already arrived. ~ Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus,
Defining the Dogma of the Assumption, November 1, 1950
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