Returning for a moment to Pope Francis’ home in Rome

Casa Santa Marta, inaugurated in 1996 by John Paul II at the entrance to the Vatican to house cardinals during conclaves, became the focus of global attention when Pope Francis chose to live there immediately after his election in March 2013. It was in this residence that the Argentine Pope died at dawn on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025. One year after his death, his memory remains vivid among its residents.

The name had become so familiar that it came to personify Pope Francis and his circle. For some Vatican observers and officials, “Santa Marta” came to signify a more human-scale setting, symbolizing a style of papal governance that allowed for informal and friendly exchanges. For others, it represented a kind of government headquarters, bypassing the traditional institutions of the Holy See. “That might not please Santa Marta,” some officials would say, reluctant to speak openly on matters that could put Pope Francis in difficulty.

“It was a fundamental break, choosing to live in Santa Marta,” recalled Italian historian and journalist Lucetta Scaraffia in a 2024 Arte documentary, Francis’ Revolution: A New Era in the Vatican. “It’s a very ugly place! One of the ugliest in the Vatican,” she added with characteristic frankness.

Indeed, the large building has little charm. Its sober, functional character took precedence over architectural harmony with the Roman landscape or continuity with nearby St. Peter’s Basilica. Its nearly 130 rooms were designed primarily to house cardinals securely and privately during conclaves. Marked by the austere conditions of the 1978 conclaves, John Paul II wanted future participants to be accommodated with greater dignity and comfort — something realized in 2005, 2013, and 2025.

At other times, the building houses priests working in the Roman Curia as well as retired prelates. All must vacate their rooms in the event of a conclave, a complex logistical and security challenge. Before the cardinals arrived in May 2025, Vatican security services inspected every room to eliminate any risk of information leaks.

Among the current 75 residents, only one is a layperson. Three cardinals live there full time, all former nuncios. The centenarian Cardinal Angelo Acerbi, former apostolic nuncio notably in Colombia and created cardinal by Pope Francis at the age of 99, serves as the dean of the house. He has recently been joined by Italian Cardinal Mario Zenari, former nuncio to Syria, and Swiss Cardinal Emil Paul Tscherrig, former nuncio to Italy.

The latter was required to leave the Paul VI Residence on Via della Scrofa in Rome’s historic center, whose closure was one of Pope Francis’ final decisions, later confirmed by Leo XIV. About 20 other residents from that clerical residence are currently moving into Casa Santa Marta, bringing the number of permanent residents to 95. Only about 30 rooms remain available for short stays, mainly for visiting prelates or participants in Vatican conferences.

Bound to discretion in dealing with the media, members of the Roman Curia living at Santa Marta nonetheless acknowledge that sharing daily life with Pope Francis was a profound experience. “It was a time of grace, an exceptional, almost historic period, to share the life of the Holy Father nearly every day,” one recalls.

That did not mean familiarity. “He was the Pope, of course, and there was no ambiguity about that. It was not an ordinary relationship. There was a kind of natural distance,” he explains.

Pope Francis usually took lunch and dinner in the refectory with his secretaries, sometimes joined by guests, even friends from Argentina.

Yet the atmosphere did not encourage spontaneous conversation. “No one would sit at his table to speak informally. We would see him, greet him respectfully from a distance, but no one approached him intrusively, because everyone understood the sensitivity of the situation and that he should not be disturbed,” the priest adds.

Residents were moved by the Pope’s increasing frailty, especially in winter, marked by growing mobility, digestive, and respiratory difficulties. “We saw him in times of illness, of physical weakness … We saw him walk with a cane, then a walker, then a wheelchair. It was quite striking and deeply moving,” one says.

After returning from his final hospitalization in March and April 2025, some were surprised to still encounter him in the elevator or corridors: Francis had declined strict medical confinement, wanting to maintain contact until the end. His last audience with a head of state was the visit of King Charles III to his private apartment at Santa Marta on April 9, 2025, just 12 days before his death.

After the Pope’s death, his personal belongings were returned “to whom they belong,” according to Vatican sources. His apartment, Suite 201, has not yet been reassigned. Larger than the other rooms, it has remained empty for a year “out of respect for the deceased pontiff and to preserve the memory of his presence.” Previously, it hosted distinguished guests, notably Eastern patriarchs. Its last occupant before Pope Francis was Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who attended the Argentine pope’s installation Mass on March 19, 2013.

Otherwise, Casa Santa Marta has returned to its normal rhythm. “Pope Francis did not try to impose a particular style on the house. He took it as it was and lived there simply, with the normal constraints linked to his role and security,” a resident explains. One notable difference is the absence of the Swiss Guard and gendarme who were stationed at the entrance when Francis was living there.

Chosen out of a desire for community life, Santa Marta became somewhat idealized worldwide. Transmitted in summaries by Vatican News during his first years, millions of Catholics followed Pope Francis’ daily homilies during morning Mass in the residence’s modern chapel. Then during the first phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, from March 9 to May 17, 2020, the televised 7 a.m. Mass turned “Santa Marta” into a kind of substitute parish for many viewers.

The reception room, where the well-known image of Mary Undoer of Knots still hangs, was also central to his pontificate. Hundreds of meetings took place there, and many were struck by Francis' attentive gaze, firm handshake, and personal concern for each individual.

One of the most powerful moments came in 2019, when he met leaders involved in the conflict in South Sudan and knelt to kiss their feet, imploring them to make peace. Though unsettling to some, the gesture paved the way for his 2023 visit to the war-torn country.

After his death, Pope Francis’ body lay in the chapel of Casa Santa Marta from Monday evening until Wednesday morning. His final personal secretary, Fr. Juan Cruz Villalón, and his nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, received mourners there, visibly moved, as if keeping vigil for a father.

Before the formal Vatican ceremonies resumed with the transfer of his body to St. Peter’s Basilica on the morning of April 23, these final hours at Santa Marta marked the closing chapter of a form of papacy lived in a deeply communal way — a memory still vivid during a recent dinner marking the residence’s 30th anniversary.