12/06/2026
✈️🇪🇸 Welcome back, Santo Padre!
Following the engine failure of the Iberia Airbus A320 which was supposed to take him back to Rome from Tenerife, Pope Leo XIV will return to the Italian capital aboard the aircraft of the King of Spain, kindly made at his disposal by His Majesty.
The plane took off at 6:08 p.m. (local time) and should arrive in Rome around 11 p.m., Rome, according to the Santa Se press room. Santa Sé staff and journalists from the papal flight will return in the next few hours in another plane made available by Iberia.
Thus ends, in an unprecedented way, after seven days, the fourth international apostolic trip of Leo XIV, at the North Tenerife-Los Rodeos airport. The journey took the Pontiff to Spain between June 6 and 12.
The departure was delayed due to a technical problem with the engine of the Airbus A320 from Iberia. The take-off procedure began around 4.15 p.m. (local time), already over an hour late. Shortly later, however, the access ladder was repositioned next to the aircraft, and the Pope was led back to the VIP room of the airport by King Philip VI, who had bid farewell to him moments earlier. Shortly after, they also disembarked the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in addition to the other cardinals and bishops who integrated the papal entourage.
Lion XIV arrived at the airport around 15:45 (local time), where he was received by King Philip VI of Spain, some local authorities and the delegation of the local Church. After the ex*****on of the national anthems and flag honors, the Pope and the king reviewed the Guard of Honor and then greeted their respective delegations.
Among the Spanish authorities present on the runway were the government spokesman and minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, and the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo. At the foot of the plane's stairs occurred what should have been the final farewell between the Pontiff and the Spanish sovereign, before the postponement of the departure.
Catholic Church