Inside Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis’s New Digs
The new pope is passing up a palace for a more no-frills living arrangement.
Instead, the pope intends to stay in the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican City guesthouse that hosted him and the other Catholic cardinals during the recent conclave, the meeting that ended in Francis's election.
"He is experimenting with this type of living arrangement, which is simple," Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, announced this week. Lombardi said the setup allows Francis "to live in community with others."
The pope has moved out of the room he drew by lot before the conclave and into Casa Santa Marta's suite 201, a room that has slightly more elegant furnishings and a larger living room where he can receive guests.
The guesthouse was built in 1996 on the site of
