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 Leo would be staying in the Villa Barberini, the former summer residence of the Vatican secretaries of state; 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, 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.