Unlike his predecessor, Pope Benedict is not what you would describe as a social butterfly. And on vacation, he’s mostly kept to himself, though he has made a couple brief trips from his compound:

After the July 11 visit to the chapel in Lozzo, the pope made another evening outing July 12, heading toward the Stabie Valley, home to a small Marian chapel that Pope John Paul II liked to visit when he was staying in Lorenzago di Cadore.

The Vatican did not say where the pope went, but Pope Benedict did stop on the way back to Lorenzago di Cadore to chat with well-wishers who had gathered on the side of the road.

Two little girls handed him flowers they had picked. The pope asked if they were on vacation, too. When a response was not forthcoming, he asked, “Are you nervous?” then spoke with the girls’ parents.

A group of journalists also was on hand, and the pope asked them how they managed to find him.

He smiled and jokingly answered his own question, “Journalists always know everything.”

The savvy paparazzi, though, did catch a glimpse of him with his secretary, Msgr. Georg Ganswein, seen in the photo on the left, while walking in Lorenzago di Cadore, Italy, praying the rosary on July 11, the feast of St. Benedict. (One question: what’s up with the quilted jacket?)

Photo: CNS/Reuters