Why should Catholics care about how they spend their holidays? According to generations of popes, vacation is not just a time to rest—it’s an invitation to draw closer to God, rediscover inner peace, and renew relationships.
This summer, Pope Leo XIV is following in the footsteps of his predecessors by spending time at the Pontifical Villas in Castel Gandolfo from July 6 to 20. According to Vatican News, the Holy Father will also spend a few more days there in August, celebrating Sunday Mass in local churches and praying the Angelus with the faithful. It’s a tradition deeply rooted in papal reflections on the sacred value of rest.
The Church has never viewed holidays as idle time. Instead, they are seen as “a favorable time” to reflect, read, pray, and reconnect with the natural world. As Pope Paul VI once observed, nature is like “God’s book,” one that is “always open, always new, always beautiful.” He urged the faithful to rediscover “the sea, mountains, plains, the sky with its dawns, its noons, its sunsets, and especially its starry nights” because creation is “always deep and enchanting” (according to the Angelus of August 5, 1973).
For Pope Paul VI, vacations should also nourish the mind and soul. He cautioned, “Let us ensure that this free time, which we call vacation, is not entirely spent in dissipation or selfishness.” Instead, he recommended using this time for “serious readings,” cultural excursions, and forming “good friendships” by getting to know people we don’t usually encounter.
St. John Paul II, who loved mountain retreats, echoed this holistic vision. In his Angelus message on July 6, 1997, he explained that a vacation must help a person “recover a good balance with himself, with others and with the environment.” This harmony, he said, is what truly “revitalizes the mind and reinvigorates body and spirit.”
He also issued a warning especially relevant to young people: “Escape can be beneficial, as long as one does not escape from sound moral criteria and simply from the necessary respect for one’s own health.” A healthy vacation, then, is one that strengthens, not depletes.
Pope Benedict XVI added that stepping away from the hustle of urban life is vital for rediscovery and contemplation. Speaking from Les Combes in 2005, he said holidays offer “relaxing contact with nature,” which helps fulfill “the need to be physically and mentally replenished.” In nature, “people can rediscover their proper dimension,” realizing they are “capable of God” and “inwardly open to the Infinite.”
For Pope Francis, holidays are an opportunity to deepen one’s relationship with Christ, even amid travel. During the Angelus on August 6, 2017, he said, “Summer season is a providential time to cultivate our task of seeking and encountering the Lord.” He encouraged the faithful to let this period “reinforce our strengths of body and soul,” and to entrust their vacation to the Virgin Mary.
Francis also reminded the Church to be mindful of those unable to take time off—due to illness, poverty, or work—and to pray that their summer might still be “a time of eased tension, gladdened by the presence of friends and of happy moments.”
In short, the message from the popes is clear: rest is sacred. Whether it’s through reading, praying, walking in nature, or sharing meaningful time with others, our holidays can become a path toward holiness.
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