RELIGION / THE POPE AT REST : Where John Paul Loves to Spend His Real Vacation

Even the Vatican succumbs to the doldrums that shroud Rome at this time every summer. Cardinals and bishops are away. The Pope is on vacation.

In fact, the inveterate traveler John Paul II takes two vacations, one of his own choice and the other at the dictate of history. He will return to Rome today from a private, outdoor vacation in the mountains and promptly begin the other one.

For the last 10 days, the vigorous, 70-year-old Pope has been enjoying his annual flight from the rigors of office, walking in the Italian Alps. As he did last year, he went to the tiny settlement of Introd in the Val d’Aosta, near the French border and the Gran Paradiso national park.

If he seemed drawn and tired enough to trigger ill-founded rumors of illness when he arrived there, he looked bronzed and fit after a few days in the mountain air.

The mountain vacations offer John Paul his one sure chance of shedding the pomp, the to-the-minute schedule and the crowds of photographers that stalk him at the Vatican, on his trips abroad and at the traditional papal summer vacation home at Castel Gandolfo.

Most days in the Alps, John Paul walked for hours, accompanied by a handful of aides and often dressed in clothes more appropriate for the mountain heights than are his ceremonial robes.

On a typical day, a somewhat breathless papal press secretary reported later, the Pope walked for 10 hours, halting only for a midday prayer and a picnic lunch consisting of an omelet, some local cheese, a glass of red wine, a peach and an apple.

John Paul strode tirelessly at heights above 7,000 feet, according to his spokesman, Joaquin Navarro. At one point, Navarro told reporters, “we in the retinue stopped, worn out, to drink from a brook. The sun was beating, and we were all sweating. ‘Come on, come on, let’s go,’ the Pope called.”

Earlier in the week, John Paul hitched a ride on an Italian military helicopter to the top of Mont Blanc, which is 15,771 feet high. He donned a ski jacket, leather cap and sunglasses against the sub-freezing temperatures and the sun’s glare off the snow. He stayed for 20 minutes to enjoy the scenery and to pray.

“From here, you feel Europe united and at peace,” the Pope was quoted as saying. “In a certain way, this beauty is a natural expression of what God can be.”

John Paul is hardly the first pontiff to savor flight from the constricting corridors of the Vatican. Other papal walkers included Popes Gregory XVI and Pius XII. Three of the Leos--X, XII and XIII--were avid hunters. Pope Alexander VII liked to sail on Lake Albano south of Rome.

When John Paul arrives home late today, he will continue his respite at Castel Gandolfo, also south of Rome. Popes have summered there on Lake Albano in the Alban Hills since the 17th Century.

Castel Gandolfo, which has extraterritorial status and is part of the Vatican state, has a terraced park that is actually bigger than the Vatican. When the castle was built, and as recently as the end of World War II, the village of Castel Gandolfo was cool and distant from the bustle of Rome. Today, amid Italy’s unprecedented prosperity, it is one more suburb.

John Paul’s principal contribution to the grounds is a large swimming pool. When Vatican aides wondered aloud at the cost, the Pope is said to have replied that the pool was cheaper than a conclave--the meeting of cardinals summoned from around the world to elect a new Pope.

Between walks in his park and dips in the pool, John Paul will work a reduced schedule at Castel Gandolfo, receiving visitors and appearing at weekly audiences. His life there is not as restrictive as at the Vatican--but neither is it as free as in the Alps.

On Sept. 1, as Italy slowly begins to awaken from summer, he will return to a full schedule, embarking on his fifth foreign trip of the year: a 10-day visit to Africa.