Pope Leo XIV arrived within the papal summer season retreat of Castel Gandolfo on Sunday to start out a six-week trip, giving the hilltop city again its most illustrious resident after Pope Francis stayed away throughout his 12-year hold forth.
Leo greeted well-wishers who lined the principle highway into city to welcome him earlier than waving from the balcony of the villa the place he might be staying for what he says might be a “temporary interval of relaxation.”
“I hope everybody can have some trip time to revive the physique and spirit,” Leo stated earlier than leaving the Vatican throughout his noontime prayer Sunday.
The 69-year-old Chicago native is resuming the papal custom of leaving the Vatican for the new summer season months in favor of the comparatively cooler climes of Castel Gandolfo, overlooking Lake Alban within the hills south of Rome. The realm has been a favourite getaway for Roman rulers for the reason that time of the Emperor Domitian within the first century.
It’s Leo’s first break after a frenetic few weeks of inaugural audiences, outings and Holy 12 months celebrations following his Could 8 election as historical past’s first American pope. He’ll have a handful of public occasions whereas on vacation — Lots, Sunday midday prayers and even some occasions again on the Vatican — however officers anticipate he’ll use the time to relaxation, assume and browse in on key points going through his new hold forth.
“Since he was elected he has been working, working, working. It’s time for him to get extra vitality and get power for his mission,” stated Sister Mary Livia, a nun from Uganda who was readily available to welcome Leo on Sunday.
‘Good for the entire city’
Pope City VIII constructed the papal palace in Castel Gandolfo in 1624 to present popes an escape from Rome. It was enlarged over succeeding pontificates to its current dimension of 55 hectares (136 acres), greater than Vatican Metropolis itself. On the grounds are a working farm, manicured gardens, an observatory run by Jesuit astronomers and, extra lately, an environmental instructional middle impressed by Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si (Praised Be).
Previous popes used it repeatedly in summer season, drawing big crowds of pilgrims who would come on Sundays to listen to his midday blessing, which was delivered contained in the interior courtyard of the palace. Pope Benedict XVI famously closed out his papacy within the property on Feb. 28, 2013. However Francis, a homebody who by no means took a correct trip throughout his 12-year hold forth, determined to stay in Rome in summer season.
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The city suffered an preliminary financial hit from the choice. However then Francis turned the papal palace and gardens right into a year-round museum, open to the general public, giving the city a year-round vacationer draw that ended up benefiting it much more, shopkeepers say.
“He made entry to those constructions attainable, which no pope ever did in 400 years,” stated Simone Mariani, who runs a restaurant on the town that benefited from the regular stream of vacationers rather more than the summer-only Sunday crowds of the previous. “He introduced tourism that was good for the entire city.”
However that also didn’t make up for the abandonment felt by a city whose rhythms for generations revolved round common papal visits.
Each time the pope would arrive, the palace doorways would open, the Swiss Guards would stand at consideration and the city would come to life, stated Patrizia Gasperini, whose household runs a memento store on the principle piazza a couple of steps from the palace entrance door.
“All yr, we’d miss the colour, the motion, however we knew when summer season got here he would return,” she stated. “So when Pope Francis determined to not come, we have been upset on an emotional stage, past the financial stage.”
Draft necessary church paperwork
For the reason that palace has been changed into a museum, Leo will really be staying within the Villa Barberini, a smaller residence on the property grounds that was the place the Vatican secretary of state would keep when the pope was on the town.
Mayor Alberto De Angelis stated he hopes Leo will resolve to make use of Castel Gandolfo not only for summer season breaks, however for periodic holidays throughout the remainder of the yr, as St. John Paul II usually did.
There’s additionally a convention of popes utilizing their time at Castel Gandolfo to draft necessary church paperwork and encyclicals, and De Angelis stated he hopes Leo follows in that custom.
“We hope Pope Leo produces some textual content, some encyclical right here that has a worldwide attain,” he stated. “After which he can say that it got here from Castel Gandolfo, that he was impressed and produced this textual content from right here for the entire world.”
—Winfield reported from Rome.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
