CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- Heaven is not a location in the cosmos, but a place within God where those who believe in him will enjoy his love forever, Pope Benedict XVI said. Celebrating an early morning Mass Aug. 15, the feast of the Assumption of Mary, the pope said that when the Catholic Church affirms that Mary was taken, body and soul, into heaven, it is not referring "to some place in the universe, a star or something like that." "With the term 'heaven,' we want to affirm that God -- the God who made himself close to us -- does not abandon us even in and beyond death, but he has a place for us and gives us eternity; we want to affirm that within God there is a place for us," the pope said.
Pope Benedict celebrated the Mass in the parish Church of St. Thomas, just across the main square from the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo. A few hours after the Mass, he led the recitation of the Angelus prayer with visitors gathered in the courtyard of the villa.
Source: CBCP News
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