Vatican II Icon--Preliminary Sketch

This is a preliminary sketch of the basic layout for the Vatican II icon I'm working on now (first in a series of pictures celebrating the Year of Faith proclaimed at the Vatican by Pope Benedict XIV).  This just shows the central part of the picture, and not the floral border I plan to put around it.

From top to bottom: alpha and omega at each corner, monogram of Christ at center; the oval-like shape being a map of the earth; St. Peter's Basilica, with the cross at its peak centered on the world map; figures involved in the council in two rows, encircled by the arcades that reach out in front of St. Peter's, with Pope John XXIII front and center; and at bottom two banners inscribed "Second Vatican Council" and "50 Years--1962-2012."  The Holy Spirit symbolized by a white dove will be in there somewhere too.

As always, I welcome all comments and ideas about this picture as it develops.