Pope Leo XIV to take first summer holiday in lakeside residence at Castel Gandolfo

VATICAN CITY – Pope Leo XIV is set to take his first holiday, or rather vacation, as the first American pope may call it, in the Papal Villas in Castel Gandolfo in the Alban hills south of the Eternal City, the Vatican has announced.  

 Rome, which is already heating up to unbearable temperatures, particularly for those working in the Vatican, and so from the July 6, the pontiff will be off to his summer residence. It won’t be purely rest for the pontiff, however, as Leo will host a mass at the Chiesa Madre di San Tommaso da Villanova in Castel Gandolfo on Sunday 12 July at 10 a.m. and then he will recite a prayer in Piazza della Libertà, in front of the Apostolic Palace at 12 p.m.

  On Sunday July 20 at 9.30 he will celebrate a mass in the Cathedral of Albano and again will recite a prayer in Piazza della Libertà at 12 p.m. the same day before returning to the Vatican that afternoon. 

 During the month of July all Wednesday general audiences will be suspended (2,9,16,23) and will recommence on July 30. Leo will return to Castel Gandolfo on Friday Aug. 15 for a mass in Chiesa Madre di San Tommaso da Villanova at 10 a.m., followed by a 12 p.m. prayer in Piazza della Libertà. That Sunday Aug. 17 at 12 p.m. the recitation of the prayer will again be held in Piazza della Libertà and Leo will make his return to the Vatican in the afternoon at the end of his summer break. 

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