The meaning of Christ's Ascension expresses our belief that in Christ the humanity that we all share has entered into the inner life of God in a new and hitherto unheard of way. It means that man has found an everlasting place in God. It would be a mistake to interpret the Ascension as the temporary absence of Christ from the world. Rather, we go to heaven to the extent that we go to Jesus Christ and enter into him. Heaven is a person: Jesus himself is what we call "heaven."
-- Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI