Pope Francis marries flight attendants during impromptu mid-air ceremony

Their guests were strangers and the wedding feast was airplane food, but when Pope Francis offers to marry you while flying 36,000 feet above Chile, you work with what you've got.

Carlos Ciuffardi and Paula Podest are flight attendants with LATAM, Chile's flagship airline, and they were aboard the pontiff's Thursday flight from Santiago to Iquique. They were married in a civil ceremony in 2010 and had a church ceremony planned, but an earthquake toppled their church's bell tower and their wedding was canceled. Life and the birth of two children got in the way, and the couple never rescheduled. They asked Pope Francis for a blessing, and when he heard their story, he immediately asked if they would like him to marry them right there and then.

"He told me it's historic, that there has never before been a pope who married someone aboard a plane," Ciuffardi told reporters. A Vatican official scrambled to put together a marriage certificate for the stunned couple, while Francis gave the second-time-around newlyweds some tips on wedded bliss, including making sure "the wedding rings shouldn't be too tight, because they'll torture you," Podest said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up