John Thavis at CNS looks at the question of the Vatican’s release of various important documents right before the Pope’s vacation:

Before Pope Benedict XVI took off for his summer vacation in the Italian Alps, he engaged in a time-honored Vatican tradition: clearing his desk.

That resulted in a flurry of decisions and documents, some long-awaited and some complete surprises. Their common denominator, apparently, was that no one wanted to deal with them again when they returned to their offices in September.

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Pope Benedict also made some long-expected appointments in June and July. One of the most important was the naming of French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran as head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, a move that signaled priority interest in interfaith relations.

Five more appointments were announced, too. The timing probably had as much to do with logistics as anything: Summer vacation gives relocating prelates a chance to move their offices and, if needed, their residences.

As for the pope, he’s not expected to return to his desk at the Vatican until the end of September. After nearly three weeks of "real" vacation in the mountains, he’ll spend most of the summer at his villa in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome, where he keeps up a limited schedule of meetings.

This year, he’ll interrupt his time at Castel Gandolfo for two pastoral visits: to Marian shrines in the southern Italian city of Loreto and the Austrian pilgrimage site of Mariazell.