The Ascension is the third part of an essential trio of events in the Christian calendar, comprising Jesus' crucifixion, commemorated on Good Friday; his resurrection, celebrated on Easter Sunday; and finally his rapture into heaven, 40 days later – on a Thursday, that is.

For Catholics and a large proportion of Protestants, followers of the Gregorian calendar (introduced in 1582 by Pope Grégoire XIII), the 2024 celebrations will take place on Thursday, May 9. For the Orthodox, still using the Julian calendar (solar calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC), the date is Thursday, June 13.

Ascension Thursday has remained a national holiday in France since the concordat agreement between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, in 1801. In other Catholic countries, such as Spain and Italy, bishops decided in the 1970s to celebrate Ascension Day on a Sunday, so as not to add a non-working day to the calendar. But in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, as in France, Ascension Thursday remains a day off. Here are five questions to better understand its meaning and symbols.

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