Pope Leo XIV resumes tradition and arrives Castel Gandolfo for vacation to restore 'body and spirit'

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV arrived in the papal summer retreat of Castel Gandolfo on Sunday to start a six-week vacation, giving the hilltop town back its most illustrious resident after Pope Francis stayed away during his 12-year pontificate.

Leo greeted well-wishers who lined the main road into town to welcome him before waving from the balcony of the villa where he will be staying for what he says will be a “brief period of rest.”

“I hope everyone can have some vacation time to restore the body and spirit,” Leo said before leaving the Vatican during his noontime prayer Sunday.

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 Castel Gandolfo, overlooking Lake Alban in the hills south of Rome. The area has been a favorite getaway for Roman rulers since the time of the Emperor Domitian in the first century.

It’s Leo’s first break after a frenetic few weeks of inaugural audiences, outings and Holy Year celebrations following his May 8 election as history’s first American pope. He’ll have a handful of public events while on holiday — Masses, Sunday noon prayers and even some events back at the Vatican — but officials expect he will use the time to rest, think and read in on key issues facing his new pontificate.

“Since he was elected he has been working, working, working. It is time for him to get more energy and get strength for his mission,” said Sister Mary Livia, a nun from Uganda who was on hand to welcome Leo on Sunday.

Pope Urban VIII built the papal palace in Castel Gandolfo in 1624 to give popes an escape from Rome. It was enlarged over succeeding pontificates to its present size of 55 hectares (136 acres), bigger than Vatican City itself. On the grounds are a working farm, manicured gardens, an observatory run by Jesuit astronomers and, more recently, an environmental educational center inspired by Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si (Praised Be).

Past popes used it regularly in summer, drawing huge crowds of pilgrims who would come on Sundays to hear his noon blessing, which was delivered inside the inner courtyard of the palace. Pope Benedict XVI famously closed out his papacy in the estate on Feb. 28, 2013. But Francis, a homebody who never took a proper vacation during his 12-year pontificate, decided to remain in Rome in summer.

The town suffered an initial economic hit from the decision. But then Francis turned the papal palace and gardens into a year-round museum, open to the public, giving the town a year-round tourist draw that ended up benefiting it even more, shopkeepers say.

“He made access to these structures possible, which no pope ever did in 400 years,” said Simone Mariani, who runs a restaurant in town that benefited from the steady flow of tourists much more than the summer-only Sunday crowds of the past. “He brought tourism that was good for the whole town.”

But that still didn’t make up for the abandonment felt by a town whose rhythms for generations revolved around regular papal visits.

Whenever the pope would arrive, the palace doors would open, the Swiss Guards would stand at attention and the town would come to life, said Patrizia Gasperini, whose family runs a souvenir shop on the main piazza a few steps from the palace front door.

“All year, we'd miss the color, the movement, but we knew when summer came he would return,” she said. “So when Pope Francis decided not to come, we were upset on an emotional level, beyond the economic level.”

Since the palace has been turned into a museum, Leo will actually be staying in the Villa Barberini, a smaller residence on the estate grounds that used to be where the Vatican secretary of state would stay when the pope was in town.

Mayor Alberto De Angelis said he hopes Leo will decide to use Castel Gandolfo not just for summer breaks, but for periodic vacations during the rest of the year, as St. John Paul II often did.

There is also a tradition of popes using their time at Castel Gandolfo to draft important church documents and encyclicals, and De Angelis said he hopes Leo follows in that tradition.

“We hope Pope Leo produces some text, some encyclical here that has a global reach,” he said. “And then he can say that it came from Castel Gandolfo, that he was inspired and produced this text from here for the whole world.”

Winfield reported from Rome.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Leo XIV appears at his studio's window to bless the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for the Angelus prayer, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV arrives at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo south of Rome for a six-week vacation, Sunday. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV arrives at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo south of Rome for a six-week vacation, Sunday. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV arrives at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo south of Rome for a six-week vacation, Sunday. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A guide book with an image of Pope Leo XIV on its cover is on display outside a souvenir shop in the town of Castel Gandolfo, a historic summer retreat for popes about 30 kilometers southeast of Rome, where Pope Leo XIV will be spending a short period of rest, is seen Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

People walk past a souvenir shop in the town of Castel Gandolfo, a historic summer retreat for popes about 30 kilometers southeast of Rome, where Pope Leo XIV will be spending a short period of rest, is seen Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A view of the Papal or Apostolic Palace, a historic summer retreat for popes in the lakeside town of Castel Gandolfo, about 30 kilometers southeast of Rome, where Pope Leo XIV will be spending a short period of rest, is seen Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A view of the Albano Lake, about 30 kilometers southeast of Rome, where Pope Leo XIV will be spending a short period of rest in the nearby historic summer retreat for popes of Castel Gandolfo, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV appears at his studio's window to bless the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for the Angelus prayer, Sunday. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.

Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.

“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.

"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.

Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.

Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.

Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.

At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.

Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.

Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.

After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.

“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”

Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.

Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.

His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.

“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”

Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.

FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)