This being Joseph Ratzinger, "vacation" does not mean idleness or leisure in the traditional sense. Unlike John Paul II, Benedict is not a man given to long walks in the mountains as a form of meditative prayer. Instead, he has shipped several cases of books and papers to the nine-room, two-story chalet in Les Combes as resources for his thinking and writing. Since his normal round of audiences, meetings with heads of state and curial officials, and other ceremonial duties are suspended, he has time to concentrate on shaping the main intellectual and administrative lines of his pontificate.

Some time ago, the pope made reference to this dimension of his break: "I can’t wait to go on vacation, because I have much to think about."

Good morsels from John Allen this week, especially if you’re wondering what kind of glasses the Pope wears and why‘

On other notes: speculation on the subject of the Pope’s first encycical, curial changes, and the Pope’s stance re/the New Movements.

Also (near the end) a startling rumor about who might be in the market to buy the house in Bavaria where B16 was born…Let’s hope not.