The master of papal liturgical ceremonies originally confirmed Pope Francis would take a greater rest than he has in past Julys. But this month still remained pretty busy for the 87-year-old Pope.
His month kicked off with a quick pastoral day-trip to the Italian city of Trieste. Other public appearances included a meeting with six religious congregations and the President of the UN, a visit to the Vatican summer camp and a continuation of his Sunday Angelus.
While visiting with children in the Vatican's summer camp, the Pope reflected on what his summers looked like growing up.
POPE FRANCIS
Four of us would go to our grandparents' house—two to the maternal grandparents and the others to the paternal grandparents—and then we would change the other month. We used to vacation with our grandparents. It was very nice. I was blessed to have all four of them until I was 16 years old…
The Pope will finish out the month of July by meeting with 50,000 altar servers in St. Peter's Square.
Pope Francis will resume his official schedule the first full week of August. On August 5, he will attend vespers at the Basilica of St. Mary Major on the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows for the first time in his pontificate. This will be followed by his General Audiences starting back up on August 7.
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