After a renovation, Pope Leo XIV moves into the papal apartment eschewed by Pope Francis

Pope Leo XIV waves as he arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

ROME -- Pope Leo XIV moved into the newly renovated papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace on Saturday, taking up residence in the flat that was famously eschewed by Pope Francis.

The Vatican said Leo would be joined by his closest aides in the apartment, located on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace and overlooking St. Peter’s Square. The move and the consolidation of Leo’s team, suggests a new chapter is opening as his pontificate nears the one-year mark.

After he was elected last May, Leo had continued living in his small flat in the Vatican’s Palazzo del Sant’Uffizio, the headquarters of the Holy See doctrine office that also has a handful of private apartments for Vatican officials.

Over the ensuing 10 months, the Vatican undertook extensive renovations to the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace, which hadn’t been used during Francis’ 12-year papacy and was in dire need of an update to bring its electric, plumbing and other utilities up to standard.

In recent months, as Leo’s move-in date neared, a crane was seen working on the site.

Francis chose not to live in the apartment because he said he wanted to be surrounded by other people. Instead, he lived in the Vatican’s Santa Marta residence, the institutional-style hotel where visiting priests stay and where cardinals are sequestered during conclaves.

Francis’ choice was in keeping with his simple taste and disdain for the pomp of the papacy. But the practical effect also meant that the entire second floor of the hotel was turned over to the pope, reducing its capacity for paying guests.

Leo, history’s first U.S. pope, has made clear he is more comfortable using the traditional garb and accoutrements of the papacy. His decision to move into the Apostolic Palace has been praised in particular by conservative commentators who see it as a sign of respect for the papacy.

Leo had actually taken formal possession of the residence in the days after his election, walking through the reception rooms and the small chapel reserved for his personal use. It had been sealed as called for by papal protocol, with a red ribbon and wax, after Francis died April 21, even though he had died in his hotel room.

A new chapter as the anniversary approaches

Leo’s move signals something of a new chapter in a pontificate that seems to be kicking into gear after a slow and deliberate start.

Earlier this week, Leo made his second big appointment in the Vatican bureaucracy, where several prefects are either at or past retirement age. He named a fellow Augustinian priest, Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín of Spain, as the new head of the Vatican’s charity office.

While the Vatican didn’t say who would be moving into the apartment with him, Leo has put together a team of four close aides.

They include the two men who most often flank him in public and are his main gatekeepers: his secretary, Peruvian Monsignor Edgard Iván Rimaycuna Inga and the vice regent of the papal household, the Rev. Edward Daniang Daleng, a fellow Augustinian priest from Nigeria.

Additionally, Leo has named a former Swiss Guard lieutenant, Anton Kappler, to serve as a second administrative aide in his office, alongside the former gendarme Piergiorgio Zanetti.

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Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press

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