Pope leaves Rome Tuesday for summer residence
July 02, 2012
Pope Benedict XVI will leave the Vatican on July 3 for his annual summer stay at the apostolic palace in Castel Gandolfo.
With a flurry of appointments to the Roman Curia in the past week, the Pope has cleared his desk to prepare for his summer vacation. During the month of July he will not hold public or private audiences, except for midday audiences on Sundays, which will be held in the courtyard of the summer residence.
The Pope will resume his regular weekly public audiences beginning on Wednesday, August 1. He may make the short trip to the Vatican for these midday audiences.
During the first few years of his pontificate, Benedict XVI took short summer vacations in the Italian Alps before moving to Castel Gandolfo for the remainder of the summer. Beginning in 2010, as his advancing age and difficulty in walking made it more difficult for him to enjoy the mountains, he has gone directly to his summer residence, spending his vacation quietly there.
The Pope is expected to return to the Vatican in September.
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