The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the highest liturgical feasts. It commemorates the Catholic dogma that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was taken body and soul into heaven. For Pope Benedict XVI, the Assumption was a day of joy. “God has won. Love has won. It has won life. Love has shown that it is stronger than death, that God possesses the true strength and that his strength is goodness and love,” he said. For Pope Leo XIV, it was a day of invitation, to be like Mary and to say “yes” to Jesus in our every day lives. "In our day, we are like Mary whenever we do not flee, whenever we make Jesus’ 'yes' our own,” he said. "That 'yes’ still lives and resists death in the martyrs of our time, in witnesses of faith and…