Benedict has rejected the rich Catholic tradition of interpreting heaven in terms of the most intense human experiences

To mark the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin last week, Pope Benedict gave a homily at Castel Gandolfo reflecting on the dogma of the Assumption (the idea that the Virgin Mary was bodily taken up into heaven at her death) and seeking to explain what exactly “heaven” is. Somewhat dismissively, he suggested that it is not anything so vulgar as a physical “place in the universe … a star or something similar”, and asserted instead that heaven is a place in God (and if you aren’t hearing Belinda Carlisle by now, you need to brush up on your knowledge of 80s pop)…

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