A custom that Pope Francis suspended is returning.
From CNS:
Pope Leo XIV will spend two weeks of July at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, bringing back a centuries-old tradition that had been suspended by Pope Francis.
Pope Leo also will celebrate the feast of the Assumption of Mary for the whole town and visitors Aug. 15 as per tradition, according to the Prefecture of the Papal Household.
Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, confirmed Pope Leo would be staying in the Villa Barberini, the former summer residence of the Vatican secretaries of state; Pope Francis turned the former papal palace on the town’s main square into a museum, which opened in 2016.
All private audiences with the pope will be suspended during July, including the Wednesday general audiences, which will resume July 30, the prefecture said in a communique June 17.
“On the afternoon of Sunday, July 6, the Holy Father Leo XIV will move to the pontifical villas of Castel Gandolfo for a period of rest” until the afternoon of July 20, it said.
While he is at the hilltop town south of Rome, Pope Leo will celebrate Sunday morning Mass July 13 in the parish Church of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo’s main square, followed by the recitation of the Angelus prayer at noon in the square in front of the apostolic palace.
He will celebrate Sunday morning Mass July 20 in the cathedral of the nearby city of Albano Laziale. He will return to Castel Gandolfo to recite the Angelus at noon in the square and then return to the Vatican in the afternoon, the prefecture said.
Pope Leo will return to the papal summer villa for the three-day holiday weekend of Aug. 15-17. He will celebrate Mass Aug. 15 at the parish of St. Thomas, followed by the Angelus prayer in the square in front of the apostolic palace.
He will also recite the Sunday Angelus at noon Aug. 17 in the square before returning to the Vatican that afternoon, it added.
Castel Gandolfo was the summer residence of popes from 1626 until the election of Pope Francis, who chose to stay at the Vatican and not escape Rome’s summer heat at the cooler hilltop papal villa.
Photo: by H. Raab / Creative Commons license via Wikipedia
