Pope Leo XIV completed his official move to the historic papal apartment located in the Third Loggia of the Apostolic Palace last Saturday, March 14, ending a decade in which that residence remained unoccupied.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, confirmed the move on Saturday afternoon, specifying that the pontiff left the Palace of the Holy Office —where he had lived since his election on May 8, 2015— to settle, along with some of his closest collaborators, in the renovated apartments that have traditionally housed the successors of Peter.

The apartment, which has undergone modernization in recent months, includes a private study from whose window the Pope appears on Sundays to recite the Angelus to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, a library, and a private chapel. These spaces were sealed off on April 21, 2015, following the death of Pope Francis, who throughout his pontificate chose to reside in the simpler Casa Santa Marta as a sign of closeness and austerity.

Leo XIV, for his part, proceeded to remove the seals just three days after his election, on May 11, 2025, although the actual transfer was delayed until now. With this decision, the current pontiff revives a custom inaugurated by Saint Pius X in 1903 and followed by most of his predecessors until the pontificate of Francis.

The change represents a symbolic return to the residential tradition at the heart of the Vatican, after a period in which the Apostolic Palace had lost its function as the permanent residence of the Bishop of Rome. Vatican sources indicate that the choice also responds to reasons of work comfort and privacy for the exercise of the Petrine ministry.

From Saturday afternoon, the lights in the papal apartment are being turned on regularly again, marking the beginning of a new stage in the pontiff’s daily life in the Apostolic Palace.