Q. 1. How does the Catholic Church define death? What I mean is, what happens when a person dies?

A. 1. The Catholic Church teaches two things regarding death.

First of all, the Catholic Church teaches that at death, the physical body separates from the spirit (spiritual body) and the soul (consciousness). The soul, now a conscious spiritual being as the angel, manifest itself through its spiritual body, the spirit (ghost). In this new spiritual form, the soul is judged by God.

Secondly, as the Holy Bible teaches, death comes upon every human being because of original sin. "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin..." [Rom. 5:12]