Overview

• The Vatican postal service processes up to 100 kilograms of correspondence each day, totaling 500 to 550 kilograms weekly since Leo XIV’s May 8 election.
• Letters arrive from every continent, including places such as Andorra, Brazil, Cameroon, Hong Kong and the United States.
• Correspondence ranges from handwritten prayers and postcards to small gifts like teddy bears, often requesting intercessory prayers for the sick.
• The Secretariat of State centralizes and screens all items before machine-or-manual sorting and same-day van delivery over the 20-kilometer route.
• Pilgrims at St. Peter’s Square can send postage-free letters at Vatican post offices four times a day, sustaining a centuries-old tradition in the digital era.