Chile: A Chilean couple of flight attendants, Carlos Ciuffardi (41) and Paula Podest (39), were formally married off by Pope Francis on the third day of his South American trip, as they flew over Chile aboard the papal plane.
The short ceremony took place on the two hour long flight, taking the Pope from Santiago to Iquique, at an altitude of 11,000 metres. This took place out of the view of the journalists that were travelling along with the Pope.
The couple of LATAM Airlines employees were married in a civil ceremony in 2010 and currently have two daughters.
According to the Vatican, after their civil marriage, the couple was unable to have a formal religious ceremony as the church in which they chose to get married was destroyed in an earthquake.
The historic impromptu in-flight ceremony was the first ever conducted by a Pope.
Pope Francis blessed the rings and then asked one of the cardinals accompanying him to prepare the document attesting to the couple’s wedding.
That document indicates that the pope was the celebrant.
