visio beatifica
Beatific Vision
Heaven itself — seeing God “face to face,” as he is, in a way that fills every desire and makes the soul perfectly happy.
the vision that makes blessed
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The beatific vision is the theologians' name for that seeing: the immediate knowledge of God as he is, no longer through faith or creatures, which is the essence of heaven. The Catechism says that God, because of his transcendence, cannot be seen as he is unless he opens his mystery to man's immediate contemplation and gives him the capacity for it. Those who die in grace and are perfectly purified enter it at once; it is the goal of every human life.
Councils
Where the Church settled or debated this. Follow a council to read our article on it, or the decrees themselves.
- 1431–1445Council of Basel–Ferrara–Florencethe decrees
Sources checked 29 September 2026