After twelve years, a Pope returns to the Apostolic Palace: Leo XIV has moved to the Third Loggia.

A light has come back on behind the windows of the Third Loggia of the Apostolic Palace. After a wait lasting ten months since his election in May 2025, Pope Leo XIV has officially taken possession of the papal apartment, closing a residential "vacation" that began exactly twelve years ago. Indeed, it had been since February 28, 2013, the day Benedict XVI left the papal ministry, that those ancient rooms overlooking St. Peter's Square had not permanently hosted the daily life of a Pope.

Throughout his long pontificate, the predecessor Pope Francis had chosen to reside in the more modest Casa Santa Marta, an exception motivated by the desire to "not remain alone" and to maintain a strong sense of sobriety. With the transfer of Leo XIV , the Domus Sanctae Marthae will fully regain its original function as a clergy guesthouse and conclave venue.

The delay of ten months in the move was not dictated by whims or the pursuit of luxury, but by a concrete and unavoidable structural necessity. After over a decade of limited use for receptions, work, and formal meetings, the apartment required a deep update to be habitable again. The construction sites, which had remained sealed and busy until just a few hours ago, involved the upgrading of the water system, the old electrical systems, wiring, and the most basic security and climate control systems. The goal was to make a portion of the palace, layered between the 16th and 20th centuries, "livable" and safe again, adapting it to contemporary standards without yielding to opulence. During this transition period, Leo XIV had lived and governed temporarily from an apartment within the Palazzo del Sant'Uffizio.