


VATICAN CITY
Pope aims to restore ‘body and spirit’ during vacation
ROME >> Pope Leo XIV on Sunday heads to the papal summer residence for a six-week vacation, giving the hilltop town of Castel Gandolfo back its most illustrious resident after Pope Francis stayed away during his 12-year pontificate.
Leo bid farewell to Rome during his Sunday noon blessing, saying he was taking a “brief period of rest.”
“I hope everyone can have some vacation time to restore the body and spirit,” Leo said from his studio window that overlooks St. Peter’s Square.
The 69-year-old Chicago native is resuming the papal tradition of leaving the Vatican for the hot summer months in favor of the relatively cooler climes of the Alban Hills, south of Rome.
— The Associated Press