Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Public gets first glimpse of luxurious Papal apartments

These images show the interior of the Vatican's Papal apartments - after they were opened up to the public for the first time. 

The Daily Mail brings you a gallery of of the rooms Pope Francis feels are too luxurious for him to stay in.

Pope Francis has declined to use the palazzo in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, preferring to spend his summer downtime at home in the Vatican hotel suite where he lives.

It means the sprawling 135-acre estate in the Alban hills has been gradually made more accessible to the public.

On Saturday morning, the Vatican opened the private apartments to the outside world, giving visitors a rare look at the bed where Popes Pius XII and Paul VI died and where John Paul II recovered from an assassination attempt in 1981.

In 2014, the gardens opened to visitors, in part to help offset the economic downturn the lake-front town has experienced since Francis decided to stay in Rome.

Last year the Vatican inaugurated a weekly train service so visitors can see both the Vatican and the leafy hill-top refuge in one day.

Now, visitors can tour the never-before-seen private apartment of the palazzo itself, including the Consistory Room where Pius XII made Angelo Roncalli a cardinal in 1953. 

Cardinal Roncalli later became Pope John XXIII.