Preparations for a tomb in a chapel right next to the image of the Virgin Mary "Salus populi Romani", the current Pope's favourite Roman icon.
Some Italian tabloid media recently reported on such events at Francis' favourite burial place.
Is it a summer lull, or is the Argentinian-born Pope currently preparing to die?
The speculation cannot be verified.
The Vatican remains silent.
Francis will be 88 years old in December; he is already one of the oldest popes in office in the history of the Church.
In terms of his health, he is struggling with age-related weaknesses and pre-existing illnesses from the distant past.
Eternal cat-and-mouse game between Francis and his opponents
Wanting to cut back on strenuous trips abroad is not a new concern for the Pope.
Nevertheless, the repeated failure to realise it is probably his own fault. A phenomenon that has to do above all with his power in the Curia and the Church.
It is an eternal cat-and-mouse game between Francis and his opponents: the more weakness they attribute to him, the more the head of the Church endeavours to demonstrate strength - a vicious circle for a hunted pope.
So it seems almost natural to embark on the longest foreign trip of his term of office at the age of 88.
After a short, by no means work-free summer break in Rome, Francis will spend twelve days travelling in the East Asia-Pacific region. From 2 September, he will visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. These are four not entirely harmless countries with challenging issues - including dialogue with Islam, climate change and human rights. The climatic conditions and immense time differences are also gruelling.
There is little time for Francis to relax before he sets off abroad again: less than two weeks later , the pontiff is travelling to Belgium and Luxembourg. For just under four days and seven speeches, Francis will visit the small Western European countries - the main event is the 600th anniversary celebrations of the Catholic University of Leuven, 30 kilometres east of Brussels.
When he returns to Roman soil on 29 September, the next major event in the Pope's diary will be the final and decisive phase of his pet project, the World Synod. This recently made headlines due to a deleted social media survey.
In response to the question "Do you believe that synodality as a path of conversion and reform can promote the mission and participation of all the baptised?", the responsible secretariat received predominantly negative feedback, with the question modules disappearing completely from Facebook and X ten minutes before the usual 24-hour deadline.
World Synod document in spring at the earliest
Nevertheless, around 350 men and women will reflect on the future of the Catholic Church in October. It remains to be seen to what extent the topics outsourced by the Pope to expert groups - such as the issue of women - will play a role. It also remains to be seen which of the key points from the meeting will be included in Francis' final document. It is expected to be published next spring at the latest.
By then, a quarter of the major event following the Synod will already have passed. On 24 December, Francis will open the Holy Year 2025, for which millions of pilgrims are expected in Rome and which will push the Pope's schedule to its limits.
In the middle of the year, Catholics and Orthodox Christians will celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. It was there that the central Christian creed was formulated. Francis has already announced his participation in the anniversary celebrations - in Turkey.
It is difficult to fit a Pope in a sick room into this extensive programme. However, Francis is known to be reluctant to let important things out of his hands. This is likely to include his own farewell to earthly life in particular.
He may be making preparations for this, but first the Pope has other plans - he would like to travel to China, he said in a recent interview.