Question: I’ve heard that we become angels when we die. Is this what the Church teaches?
Answer: As human beings, we are both spiritual and corporeal. We are body and soul. This makes us unique in all creation. No other physical creature — plant or animal — possesses an immortal soul made in God’s image and likeness. Like the distinction with plants and animals, angels have an entirely different sort of existence. Angels are pure immortal spirit, and they have been so since the moment of their creation. While they may take on an appearance of a body in Biblical history, they are not a body like we are. Angels are neither male nor female, despite the art we often see.
As the result of the Fall, human beings experience death. Our souls are temporarily separated from our bodies. However, we do not become something other than human. Every Sunday in the Creed we profess “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” As Jesus was united with his body on the third day, so, too, will we be united with our bodies at the end of time.