Pope Leo: Lord's Ascension draws us to Father, builds communion and peace
Pope Leo XIV addressed about 20,000 pilgrims in Saint Peter’s Square, reflecting on the Solemnity of the Ascension. He emphasized that Christ’s life is a “movement of ascent,” lifting humanity toward redemption and communion with the Father. The Pope highlighted that the Ascension is not a distant event but a present reality, uniting believers as members of one body. He urged the faithful to follow Jesus’ example, drawing them toward heavenly glory and aligning their lives with God’s heart.
4 months ago
Pope Leo XIV marked the Solemnity of the Ascension on 17 May 2026, emphasizing that the event is a present reality that draws believers into deeper communion with the Father, inspires a life of ascent, and bears fruit in peace and unity.
Pope Leo explained that the image of Christ being lifted into heaven should not be seen as a distant historical moment but as a present “living bond” that draws the Church toward full communion with the Father 1 2.
He quoted Saint Augustine, “the head’s advance is the hope of the members,” to illustrate how Christ’s ascent benefits all members of the Body of Christ 2.
The Pope described the entire life of Jesus as a “movement of ascent,” through which His humanity embraces the whole world, elevating and redeeming humanity from sin 1 2.
He linked this ascent to the Easter victory, noting that Christ’s death destroyed death and His rising restored life 1 2.
Leo taught that the Ascension points believers toward heavenly glory, expanding their horizons in this life and shaping thoughts, feelings, and actions to align with God’s heart 1 2.
He highlighted the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints as universal role models, echoing Pope Francis’s reference to “the saints next door” who live the Gospel in everyday life 1 2.
According to the Pope, the divine life received at Baptism continually draws the faithful upward, enabling the spread of “the precious fruits of communion and peace” throughout the world 1 2.
He urged the faithful to focus on what is true, just, and lovable, following Saint Paul’s guidance (Phil 4:8) 2.
The address was delivered during the Regina Caeli prayer in Saint Peter’s Square before about twenty thousand pilgrims, coinciding with the celebration of the Ascension in many countries where the feast has been moved from Thursday to Sunday 1 2.
Ascension as divine ascent uniting believers into communion
Christ’s Ascension is not merely a “departure” into the sky. In the Church’s living faith, it is a divine ascent: the risen Jesus is taken up into heaven, and from that exaltation he begins a new, intensified way of being present—so that believers, through the sacraments and the gift of the Holy Spirit, are drawn into communion with Christ and with one another.
Luke describes the Ascension with stark visual clarity: “he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). The cloud signifies more than scenery; it frames the event as a real divine taking—something that happens not by human power, but through God’s action. Augustine notes that the disciples did not need to ask “where are you going?” because they had “ocular evidence,” and he points to the cloud receiving him as he ascended.
Aquinas, reflecting on Jesus’ “going to the Father,” emphasizes that the departure would be brief and purposeful, and that Christ “go[es] to the Father” “with honor,” linked directly to the disciples seeing him “lifted up.” The Ascension therefore belongs to the honored culmination of the Easter mystery: the glorification of Christ after resurrection, and the transition into a new mode of presence.
That same “divine ascent” theme is also carried in the Church’s interpretation of Luke’s account: Christ leads the disciples out to Bethany, blesses them, and while he blesses them he is “parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” The commentaries treat this blessed departure as the beginning of the Church’s life built on Christ (the “mountain” of faith, hope, and love), and as a sign of the “obedient” Church emerging from conversion.
A crucial aspect of the Ascension for Christian unity is that it is not “isolated” from the Church’s life. John Paul II insists that the Ascension should be understood as an integral part of the Easter mystery, and that the risen Jesus does not leave definitively: “if, from the physical and earthly viewpoint, he is no longer present, his invisible presence is nonetheless intensified.”
In other words, the Ascension introduces a shift from visible proximity to sacramental and spiritual communion. That intensified presence reaches its breadth and depth “through the action of the promised Holy Spirit,” who makes Jesus present where believers recognize him—specifically “in the Church,” “the Gospel,” and “the sacraments.”
This is consistent with the catechetical teaching: believers who respond to God’s word become “intimately united” to Christ’s Body, such that Christ’s life is communicated through the sacraments, producing “a hidden and real way” of union “in his Passion and glorification.”
The Catechism frames Christian initiation as a journey requiring essential elements, culminating in Eucharistic communion. Becoming Christian is not a purely internal idea; it is a staged “journey and initiation” including “proclamation of the Word,” “acceptance of the Gospel” with conversion, “profession of faith,” “Baptism itself,” “the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” and “admission to Eucharistic communion.”
This means that “divine ascent” is not only something Christ experiences; it becomes, in grace, something the Church shares. The Ascension is therefore connected to how the risen Christ draws believers into a living communion, especially through sacraments of Christian initiation.
The Catechism further links the sacraments of initiation—Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist—to communion and mission. They “ground the common vocation of all Christ’s disciples, a vocation to holiness and to the mission of evangelizing the world,” and they confer the graces “for the life according to the Spirit… as pilgrims on the march towards the homeland.”
So the Church’s pilgrim character matters: ascent is not merely an upward motion; it is a pilgrimage toward the homeland, with sacramental grace as the means by which the Church actually walks in hope.
The Catechism supplies the sharpest link between Ascension and communion by describing what the Eucharist does. It teaches that in the Eucharist believers “really sharing in the body of the Lord” are “taken up into communion with him and with one another.”
The phrase “taken up” is striking in an Ascension reflection: the risen Christ’s movement into heavenly glory corresponds to believers being lifted into communion—not just morally or psychologically, but truly and sacramentally.
John Paul II’s reflections help illuminate the effect of this Eucharistic communion in concrete terms. In preaching on the peace Christ gives in the Eucharistic mystery, he connects Christ’s gift of peace to communion made real through Christ’s self-giving under the appearances of bread and wine: “Christ… under the appearances of bread and wine gives his Body and his Blood.” From this, he explains that Christ’s peace is “the fruit of his Passover,” which reconciles people “with God and with one another.”
Thus communion is not merely “being together”; it is reconciliation and unity made possible by Christ’s Passover and present through sacramental participation.
Luke’s Ascension scene concludes with the angels’ message: “This Jesus… will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Even as the Church waits for his return, she is not inert. The Ascension narrative in Luke leads the disciples into worship and a life of praise: they return and are “continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.”
The commentary also interprets the disciples’ posture as the Church’s foundational obedience—faith, hope, and love—grounded in Christ, the “highest mountain.” Here communion appears as lived ecclesial form: the community becomes the place where Christ’s presence is recognized, where praise happens, and where the sacraments sustain the Church’s unity and mission.
Because the Catechism ties real communion to sacramental sharing in Christ’s body, Christian unity cannot be reduced to friendliness, shared interests, or teamwork. Communion is participation in Christ’s Passion and glorification, communicated through the sacraments in a “hidden and real way.”
John Paul II emphasizes that Christ’s intensified presence comes “through the action of the promised Holy Spirit,” reaching believers in the Church, the Gospel, and “the sacraments.” Therefore, unity is not achieved primarily by strategies, but by faithfully receiving the Spirit’s work as the Church walks her sacramental path.
Because Eucharistic communion reconciles believers “with one another,” the Ascension’s aim shows itself in charity, reconciliation, and peace—the fruit of the Passover made present sacramentally.
The Ascension is a real divine ascent: Jesus is lifted up, taken into heaven by a cloud, and exalted with honor as he goes to the Father. But the Church does not treat that event as distance. Christ’s departure initiates an intensified, Spirit-given presence “in the Church” and “in the sacraments.” Through Eucharistic communion, believers are “taken up into communion with him and with one another”—so that the heavenly glory of the Ascended Christ becomes the source of earthly unity and reconciled peace.