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Tribune News Service

It was all in a day’s work for the ever-unpredictable Pope Francis.
First he celebrated the first-ever airborne papal wedding, marrying two flight attendants from Chile’s flagship airline at 36,000 feet during a flight on Thursday to this northern Chilean beachside town.
Then after landing, Francis came to the rescue of a policewoman who was thrown from her rearing horse as his Popemobile passed by.
In between, he did what he actually came to do: celebrate Mass for some 50,000 people in a desert-hot field near the town of Iquique.
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It all began with LATAM Flight 1250 from Santiago.
The crew was gathering in the first-class section for the usual photo with the pope when flight attendants Paula Podest and Carlos Ciuffardi revealed that they were a married couple. Francis motioned for them to sit next to him for the photo and asked if they had been married in the church.
They told Francis that they had been married in a civil service in 2010 but had been unable to follow up with a church ceremony because the February 27, 2010, earthquake that rocked Chile had damaged the church.
Francis then made a proposal of his own: “I’ll marry you!” and they readily agreed. The head of the airline served as the witness.
“He told me it’s historic, that there has never before been a pope who married someone aboard a plane,” the 41-year-old groom told journalists aboard the flight after he exchanged vows with his beaming bride.
Ciuffardi said the pope also told them: “This is the sacrament that is missing in the world, the sacrament of marriage. May this motivate others to get the sacrament of marriage. I’ll do it for this reason.”
Ciuffardi and the 39-year-old Podest have two children, 6-year-old Rafaela and 3-year-old Isabela. They said they plan to take a “mini-honeymoon” and return to Santiago on Friday.
The airborne wedding came about spontaneously, as is often the case with the ever-surprising Francis.
“We told him that we are husband and wife, that we have two daughters and that we would have loved to receive his blessing,” Ciuffardi said. “All of a sudden he asked us if we were married in the church, too.”
An hour after the impromptu ceremony, the plane landed in Iquique and the happy couple bid the passengers farewell. “We hope you had a good flight,” Podest said.
Francis then moved on to the real purpose of his visit, celebrating Mass for the region’s migrant community.
After the Mass, as his entourage headed back to Iquique, Francis had a scare when a police horse reared up just as his Popemobile was passing by, throwing the rider and forcing the pope’s driver to swerve slightly to get out of the way.
Francis, who wasn’t hurt, had his driver stop so he could get out to check on the officer, described by the Vatican as a Chilean policewoman.
Francis stayed with her, bending down to speak with her, until an ambulance arrived. The Vatican said the rider remained conscious “and received some words of consolation from the Holy Father.”
After she was taken away, Francis resumed his ride.


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Pope Francis

Love is in the air: Pope Francis marries flight attendants on papal plane over Chile

Pope Francis (right) marries LatAm airline flight attendants Paula Podest (centre) and Carlos Ciuffardi (foreground) during the flight between Santiago and the northern Chilean city of Iquique on Thursday. Their witness, Chilean businessman and one of the owners of the airline, Ignacio Cueto (second left), looks on. Photo: Agence France-Presse

TOPSHOT - Crew members Paula Podest and Carlos Ciuffardi kiss after being married by Pope Francis during the flight between Santiago and the northern city of Iquique on January 18, 2018. Pope Francis married the couple during the flight to Iquique where he will celebrate an open-air mass on the beach before leaving for Peru on the last leg of his South American trip. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Vincenzo PINTO

epa06450331 Crew members hostess Paula Podest 39 age (L) and steward Carlos Ciuffardi 41 (R) after being married by Pope Francis during the flight between Santiago and the northern city of Iquique, Chile, 18 January 2018. Pope Francis married the couple during the flight to Iquique where he will celebrate an open-air mass on the beach before leaving for Peru on the last leg of his South American trip. EPA-EFE/LUCA ZENNARO

Pope Francis comes to aid of a police officer who was thrown off his horse during the papal parade in Iquique, Chile, in this still image taken on January 18, 2018. REUTERS TV

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‘He told me it’s historic, that there has never before been a pope who married someone aboard a plane’


Love is in the air: Pope Francis marries flight attendants on papal plane over Chile

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}‘He told me it’s historic, that there has never before been a pope who married someone aboard a plane’

‘He told me it’s historic, that there has never before been a pope who married someone aboard a plane’