Pope Leo greets the faithful on his arrival in Castel Gandolfo | Vatican Media
The signal was the opening of the gate and the exit of two Swiss Guards. Then the roar of motorcycle engines and the dark car appeared from the bottom of the hill before pausing for the Pope to get out to greet the long line of people standing in the sun, who had been waiting for at least a couple of hours behind the barriers that even the mayor had helped to set up this morning. At around 5 p.m., Pope Leo XIV arrived at Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the Popes 25 km from Rome, where he will spend a period of summer rest until 20 July and then again for a few days in August.
The people’s wait
In the main square where the Apostolic Palace stands, which Pope Francis opened to the public by transforming it into a museum, life passed quietly for a few hours: tourists sitting in bars and restaurants, shops open, visitors coming and going from the museum complex. All this until 4.30 p.m., the time when it was known that the Pontiff would be leaving Rome. And then people began to move towards the entrance of Villa Barberini, the ancient palace where Pope Leo will be staying, joining the already large crowd of people gathered on both sides of the street: police, journalists, local residents, other tourists, families and various groups of nuns.
Other groups waited for the motorcade to pass at the foot of Salita di Sant’Antonio, the road leading to the historic centre. At Bar Etto, overlooking Lake Albano, a black banner with white lettering read: “Welcome Pope Leo”. There, a group of nuns waited for his arrival, praying the Rosary. Meanwhile, a woman on the other side of the street shouted to an acquaintance: “Is he coming or not?” “Yes, yes, he’s coming”.
The Pope’s arrival and welcome of the faithful
Applause and chants accompanied the passage of the papal car. A few metres from the entrance to Villa Barberini, as noted above, Pope Leo stopped the car and immediately made his way to the people, called from one side and the other: “Pope Leo!” “Your Holiness!” “Holy Father!” His first gesture was to bless some children in their parents’ arms, then he greeted some elderly ladies. Among them was Conchita, a Spanish woman from Zaragoza, on holiday in Rome: “I shook his hand and said: Pope Leo, te quiero mucho” (Pope Leo, I love you very much).
The nuns of the Congregation of the Presentation of Mary, originally from Cameroon, called out to the Pope in French, hoping he would come closer. Leo XIV shook as many hands as possible, then headed inside the Villa where Sister Raffaella Petrini, president of the Vatican Governorate; Bishop Vincenzo Viva, director of the Pontifical Villas; Andrea Tamburelli; and Mayor Alberto De Angelis were waiting for him.
Greetings
Also present was Don Tadeusz Rozmus, Polish parish priest of the pontifical parish of St Thomas of Villanova, where the Pope will celebrate Mass on Sunday 13 July, his first public engagement in the Lazio municipality. A well-known biker, the parish priest joked with journalists outside Villa Barberini, saying that he had offered to accompany the Pope on his motorbike around Castel Gandolfo. “It was a formal/informal meeting, in the sense that the Holy Father greeted us but also stopped to talk to us for a while, offering words of encouragement and thanks for the preparation of all this. He was very open, very kind, smiling.”
A surprise appearance
Once the gate was closed and the crowd began to disperse towards the square and the lake area, a woman’s cry caught everyone’s attention: Pope Leo suddenly appeared on the balcony of the Villa. Behind the yellow and white flag of Vatican City and behind the ivy-covered wooden panels, the Pope waved to the people on the street. A few moments of great enthusiasm, immortalised by smartphones and cameras.
The nuns: ‘We are close to you in prayer’
Directly below the balcony was a group of four nuns, Daughters of the Sagrada Familia, a congregation founded in Colombia and based in Rome. And from Rome, Maria Deleite de los Santos, Maria Regina Pacis, Maria José (Peruvian from Piura) and Maria Maestra Orante left immediately after the Angelus to come and greet the Pope up close. “How kind of him to get out of the car to greet us!” they exclaimed. They even managed to shake hands with the Pontiff: “We have been to many audiences, but this is the first time we have seen him so close.” To Leo XIV, who begins his holidays this afternoon, the nuns offered a greeting and a wish: “Holy Father, we welcome you to Castel Gandolfo. We pray hard for your intentions and for this well-deserved rest. We accompany your work with prayer.”
Source: Vatican News