Leo will disappear further this weekend when he begins a six-week vacation in his first break since his historic election May 8. Leo is resuming the papal tradition of escaping the Roman heat for the relatively cooler climes of Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer retreat on Lake Alban, south of Rome.

Pope Leo XIV had warm praise for a group of Irish teachers, who he described as ‘models of faith’, during a meeting at the Vatican yesterday. The pontiff met with a delegation of teachers from Ireland and the UK,