Leo XIV will return to live in the papal apartment of the Apostolic Palace
ROME.- Although it has not yet been officially confirmed, it is already an open secret that the new pope, Leo XIV, will return to live in the pontifical apartment of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican , just as the last pontiffs did, thus resuming a tradition that was interrupted for 12 years and 39 days by Pope Francis.
From 1903, when Pius X moved into the third floor of the Apostolic Palace, until Jorge Bergoglio, all popes had lived there. Since the 14th century, previous popes had always lived in other areas of the Apostolic Palace and the Vatican, for example, where the museums are now.
After being elected on March 13, 2013, the then-unknown Archbishop of Buenos Aires— who died at the age of 88 on April 21 —had come to the Santa Marta residence to participate in the conclave, but decided to stay there. After visiting the apartment in the Apostolic Palace, he expressed that living in that sort of "gilded cage" would have caused him "psychiatric problems" and that he preferred to live in community .
Santa Marta, a hotel for clergy within the Vatican walls, permanently houses some prelates of the Roman Curia and temporarily accommodates others during their stays in Rome. Although he was initially assigned room 207 by lottery, Pope Francis later moved to the slightly larger suite 201 , which included a small lounge, a desk, a bedroom, and a bathroom.
It was in Santa Marta where the "pope of the end of the world" kept a parallel private agenda in the afternoons, managed only by himself and, more recently, by his private secretaries. In fact, living there meant greater scope for action and freedom for him, since in the apartment on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace he would have been more confined and under control , like in a funnel.
Now, as several cardinals told LA NACION , the new Pope, Leo, who has his own style, character, and manners, has decided to return to live in the Apostolic Palace . Beyond this being a matter of tradition , it also has to do with security and the costs of protecting the Pope, as well as the message he wants to convey with this decision .
“I interpret it as an expression of his priority. Francis initiated processes and Pope Leo XIV will carry them forward. That's my premise: the process of reforming the Curia has already been launched, Leo XIV will complete it, and one contribution to that is concrete closeness . He is comfortable, he seems at ease with the Curia, he wants to work with it and for them to work with him, and living there is a way of saying that, ” Czech-Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny , prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Human and Integral Development, told LA NACION .
Although Robert Francis Prevost is still living in a 150 square meter apartment in the Palazzo del Sant'Uffizio in the Vatican, according to Corriere della Sera , restoration work has already begun on the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace, where he could move within a month .
The most urgent work focuses on the renovation and modernization of the bathrooms , as well as the repair of damp stains on the walls of some rooms. Although Benedict XVI had already carried out some work to control water leaks, after 12 years the problem has reappeared. The furniture in the room and the desk will also be renovated .
Just as Pope Francis gradually occupied other rooms on the second floor as offices for his secretaries—spaces that are expected to be freed up again to accommodate more guests from the Santa Marta hotel—his successor will need all the space in the papal apartment on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace. It has ten rooms —including a doctor's office, a chapel, a kitchen, and a dining room—with ornate salons and 16th-century marble floors. Francis only used this apartment to appear from his office window on Sundays for the Angelus or Regina Caeli Marian prayers. Therefore, the rest of the apartment, unused, needs renovation because it has become abandoned, according to LA NACION.
In addition to the new pope, when the renovation is complete, his personal secretary, the Peruvian priest Edgar Rimaycuna , originally from Chiclayo —the diocese where Prevost was bishop—and the Benedictine nuns in charge of the Prefecture of the Papal Household will live there.
Beyond the return to the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace, it is still unknown what will happen to the summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, on the outskirts of Rome, which Francis transformed into a museum. Jorge Bergoglio never visited Castel Gandolfo, not only because he didn't take vacations, but because he couldn't conceive of living in a "palazzo" in the midst of a society with so many homeless people .
lanacion
