Heaven or paradise is addressed in particular in Article 12 of the second section (The Profession of the Christian Faith, The Symbols of Faith) of the first part of the Catechism, numbers 1023 to 1029.
Discover the main questions and answers around heaven from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. At the end of this reading on heaven, we invite you to discover other great questions of faith.
/en/community/8358-let-us-pray-for-the-forgotten-souls-in-purgatory/landing
What does the Catechism of the Catholic Church say about Heaven?
While hell is a reality, heaven is a completely different one. Let's find out what the catechism tells us about this question:
- “Those who die in the grace and friendship of God, and who are perfectly purified, live forever with Christ.” They are forever like God, because they see him “as he is”, face to face” (No. 1023)
- The number 1023 goes on to say “the souls of all the saints (...) and of all the other faithful who died after having received the holy baptism of Christ, in whom there was nothing to purify when they died, (...) or again,” if there was or there is something to purify, when, after their death, they will have completed it, (...) even before the resurrection in their body and the general Judgment, and this since the Ascension of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in heaven, have been, are and will be in heaven, in the Kingdom of Heaven and in heavenly Paradise with Christ, admitted into the society of the holy angels. ”
- Number 1024 defines heaven as “perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity, this communion of life and love with Her, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed” (n° 1024), and as “the ultimate end and the realization of the deepest aspirations of man, the state of supreme and definitive happiness.” Number 1025 ends by saying that “to live in heaven is to be with Christ.”
- “Heaven is the blessed community of all those who are perfectly incorporated into Him. “ - number 1026.
- This celestial mystery exceeds all representation, as number 1027 underlines. Indeed, writing only tells us about it in images: “life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the kingdom, house of the Father, heavenly Jerusalem, paradise”
- The beatific vision is the contemplation of God in his heavenly glory (No. 1028)
We can highlight other numbers, such as:
- “Each man in his immortal soul receives his eternal retribution from his death in a particular judgment by Christ, judge of the living and the dead.” (No. 1051)
- “We believe that the souls of all those who die in the grace of Christ (…) are the People of God in the afterlife, which will be definitively defeated on the day of the resurrection, when these souls will be reunited with their bodies.” (No. 1052)
- “Those who die in the grace and friendship of God, but imperfectly purified, although assured of their eternal salvation, suffer after their death a purification, in order to obtain the holiness necessary to enter into the joy of heaven.”
- “At the end of time, the just will reign with Christ forever, glorified in body and soul, and the material universe itself will be transformed. God will then be “all in all” in eternal life.” (No. 1060)
Does everyone go to heaven?
The Church teaches the existence of hell. It is however impossible to say who will go, since the decision belongs to God. Man can only seek to do good to avoid it. To learn more about hell, we invite you to read our article on this subject.
Heaven starts down here
We sometimes hear that heaven or eternal life begins as we live on earth. Indeed, we are called to “be with Christ” every day of our lives. We are therefore invited now to live with the Lord and to seek holiness.
The Church offers us several ways to live today, with Christ, such as:
With Hozana, let us pray to become Saints and go to heaven!
With Hozana, let us pray to become Saints and go directly to Heaven. Hozana invites you to join a community to pray for the souls in purgatory, to learn how to become a saint in the 21st century with Carlo Acutis, pray with your guardian angel, or spend 10 minutes a day with Jesus.