Pope Leo XIV is expected to live in the Apostolic Palace

Pope Leo XIV is expected to move to the official papal residence, an apartment on the last floor of the Apostolic Palace, thus distancing from the housing willingness used by Pope Francis for 12 years.

The papal apartment, which is a series of rooms that surround the patio of Sixto V in the Vatican, was the traditional home of the pontiffs for more than a century before Pope Francis rejected those rooms to live in a room in the house of guests of the Vatican, the house Santa Marta.

Pope Francis explained his decision as a need to “live my life with others” In a 2013 interview. The late Pope said the papal apartment is “old, big and put with good taste, not luxurious.”

Francisco’s choice regarding his place of residence was commonly interpreted as a sign of his simplicity and rejection of the papal pomp, although the American Jesuit priest James Martin said that the expected move of Leo XIV to the papal apartment was a prudent decision.

Father Martin considered that Leo XIV would like to return to the Apostolic Palace, given the occupied and busy nature of the Vatican guest house compared to the privacy of the papal apartment.

“The transfer of León should not be interpreted as a criticism of Pope Francis (whom he has repeatedly praised and whose legacy formally told the cardinals that he wishes to continue) or as he does not live ‘simply,” he wrote in X.

Pope Francis lived in a bedroom on the second floor with an attached living room, but he frequently went to the Apostolic Palace for meetings and audiences. Towards the end of his pontificate, he also received visitors in several meetings of the guest house.

According to people who have been there, the Santa Marta guest house presented significant security challenges, and when the Pope made it its official residence after their choice in 2013, a section of the second floor was closed to guests for security reasons.

The rooms of the Apostolic Palace include a chapel, bedroom and bathroom, papal studio, office for the secretary of the Pope, a living room, dining room, kitchen and library for meetings. From the pontificate of John Paul II, which ended in illness, the apartment also includes a equipped medical suite that was then expanded to include dental equipment. There is also a roof garden and rooms for cleaning staff.

The Apostolic Palace is a great building located just northeast of the Basilica of San Pedro, within the city of the Vatican. A corner of the building gives to the Plaza de San Pedro.

In addition to the papal apartment, the Apostolic Palace – also sometimes called Palacio de Sixto V by the Pope who ordered the majority – houses Vatican offices, the Vatican Library and some of the rooms that are now part of the Vatican museums.

Several of the papal apartment windows give to the Plaza de San Pedro, including the window in which recent potatoes, including Pope Francis, appeared weekly on Sundays and holidays to pray the Angelus or Regina Coeli and give a brief reflection. On May 11, Pope Leo XIV sang Regina Coeli from the central lodge of the Basilica of San Pedro for the first time.

Following the recent convention, the papal apartment is likely to be subjected to some renovations and customization before the move of Leo XIV. Since his choice, the Pope has continued sleeping in the Vatican apartment he used as a prefect of the Dicasterio for the bishops, which is located in the Palazzo Sant’Uffizio, the building that also houses the offices of the Dicas supplies for the doctrine of faith.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.