Vatican: Benedict XVI staying at Castel Gandolfo

Private and special audiences are suspended, as well as the general audiences on three Wednesdays, the 13th, 20th, and 27th of July.  They will be taken up again on August 3, at Castel Gondolfo, where the recitation of the Angelus on Sundays and feastdays will also take place.

This vacation in the papal villa, situated 25 kilometers outside of Rome, on the banks of the Lake of Albano, will allow the Holy Father to pursue his work on Jesus of Nazareth.  “He told us that he hoped to complete it,” revealed Fr. Federico Lombardi, with a third volume, certainly shorter, on the childhood, on the Gospels of the childhood.  He has already begun to work on it in his free time, these past months, but this will probably be the moment for finishing this work or at least making decisive progress on it.”

During his stay, the Pope will leave Italy to go to the 26th World Youth Day in Madrid (Spain), from August 18 to 21, then to Germany, for a State visit from September 22 to 25.