In the spirit of summertime and my own recent hiatus, I’ve enjoyed the “Pope takes a vacation” stories on this appropriately slow news week. (Perhaps he’s already burned out from tweeting?)

• Pope Benedict Begins His Busy Vacation (Catholic News Agency)
• Vatican Reflects on Spiritual Benefits of Vacation (Catholic News Agency)
• Vatican: God Bless Vacation (USA Today’s Faith & Reason blog)

Unlike the rest of us lazy bums, Pope Benedict plans to bang out another book — his usual preferred method of kicking back in those red Prada loafers — during his time off. Still, I think we can all agree that it’s good for the spirit to periodically scale back as much as possible; even God reportedly rested on the seventh day.

Speaking of the Sabbath, The New York Times reports Israel is debating whether to add Friday (the Islamic holy day, observed throughout the Middle East) or Sunday (the Christian holy day, observed by the western world) to Saturday (the Jewish holy day), forming a proper two-day weekend. But why not go with something like 4 p.m. Friday to 4 p.m. Sunday? That works for everyone, doesn’t it — Muslim Friday evening prayers and Sunday morning church services? What am I missing? (Then again, in the hellish Middle Eastern summertime, why not just be Cypriot and close every afternoon for siesta, plus random Wednesdays off?)

P.S. Wonder what the Vatican would say about the spiritual benefits of Christians vacationing… to contested Israeli settlements? Hmmm.

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.