Iconography of the Dormition and Assumption allows us contemplate our destiny, Pope tells pilgrims
August 15, 2026
Pope Leo XIV said today that iconography of the Dormition and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary “allows us to contemplate our ultimate destiny.”
“The first, which is also the oldest—having been the only one for nearly a millennium—depicts the Dormition of the Mother of God,” Pope Leo told pilgrims gathered in Liberty Square in Castel Gandolfo for his Angelus address (video) on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “She is shown lying on a catafalque, asleep in death; around her are the Apostles, who are moved to venerate her in prayer; and in the center is the risen Jesus, holding Mary’s soul in his arms like a newborn child. Jesus came to take her to be with him in the glory of God, which we call heaven.”
The Pope commented:
This first model highlights the central truth. Having died and risen, it is Christ who leads us to the destination for which we have been created, namely eternal life. This is what generations of the faithful have contemplated while praying before the icons of the Dormition, and what can be admired in Rome, in the great mosaic of the apse of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
“The more recent iconography, which developed later in the West, depicts the Virgin Mary in full stature, in heaven, enveloped in light, often surrounded by angels and saints,” Pope Leo continued. “In the center of the image is the glorified body of the Virgin Mary, in accordance with what is written in the Book of Revelation: ‘A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars’“ (Rev 12:1).
The Pope commented:
This second model highlights the truth that Mary was assumed into heaven body and soul, that is in the entirety of her person. The woman who, on earth, gave flesh and blood to the Incarnate Word and followed him to the point of perfect union in the sacrifice of love was then drawn by him forever into glory.
“In such a way, this iconography allows us to contemplate our ultimate destiny,” Pope Leo added. “The fullness of life, which we joyfully admire today in Mary, awaits us as well at the end of time, when, as Saint Paul says, the Risen Christ ‘will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body’ (Phil 3:21), clothing what is perishable with incorruptibility and what is mortal with immortality. Then, with our flesh transformed by the love of the Redeemer, we will live forever in an endless celebration.”
The Pontiff concluded, “Let us praise the Lord, who has done great things in his and our Most Holy Mother!”
Pope Leo then recited, in Latin, the Angelus, the Minor Doxology (three times), and the prayer for the faithful departed, before imparting his blessing.
[The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a holy day of obligation except in those places where bishops, with the Vatican’s consent, have suppressed the obligation (Canon 1246). In the United States, the obligation to attend Mass on the feast day is abrogated when August 15 falls on a Monday or Saturday.]
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