Ten months after taking office, Pope Leo XIV on Saturday finally moved into his apartments in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, a historic papal residence that his predecessor had eschewed.

"This afternoon, Pope Leo XIV will take possession of the apartment in the Apostolic Palace, moving, with his closest collaborators, into the spaces previously used by his predecessors," the Vatican said in a statement.

Leo, the first US pope, decided to move into the apartments in the wake of his May 8, 2025, election as head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

But after being abandoned under the late Pope Francis, who chose a more modest dwelling elsewhere in the Vatican, they required extensive renovation.

During the interim, the 70-year-old Leo continued staying at the Palace of the Holy Office, near the Vatican, where he had lived as a cardinal.

The large apartment he has moved into includes bedrooms, a chapel, a vestibule, a library, an office, a dining room and a room from which the pontiff recites the Angelus prayer every Sunday through a window overlooking St Peter's Square.

Francis had shocked traditionalists when he decided on his election in 2013 to live in a simple apartment in the Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican, where he remained until death.

The gesture was acclaimed by supporters of a humble pope but attracted criticism from conservatives, who accused him of divesting the papacy of a sacred element.

The papal apartments are in the heart of the Apostolic Palace, which houses the Sistine Chapel, the Apostolic Library and the Secretary of State, the central hub of the Holy See's administration.

Leo has also returned to the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome, that Francis declined to use.

He spends most Tuesdays there, playing tennis and swimming alongside his work.