Pope Leo XIV’s flight home from Spain was grounded so the king came to his aid
In this handout photo provided by Vatican Media, Pope Leo XIV is accompanied by King Felipe VI of Spain as he deplanes after a technical problem at Tenerife Norte-Los Rodeos International Airport in Tenerife, Spain, Friday, June 12, 2026.
Vatican Media via AP
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Vatican Media via AP
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain — Even popes have travel delays. Lucky for Pope Leo XIV, King Felipe VI offered a way out, and a way home.
Leo’s Iberia charter, due to take him back to Rome after a weeklong visit to Spain, was grounded by a technical problem Friday, prompting Spain’s king to offer his private jet instead.
Felipe escorted Leo to his Falcon on the tarmac at the airport in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Leo and members of his delegation boarded the plane and took off, more than three hours after he was originally due to leave.
The glitch marked an unusual end to an otherwise successful trip to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands. Leo pressed his migration message and also inaugurated the new tower of the Sagrada Familia basilica.
The Iberia pilot said the engine had failed to start after Leo had boarded. Initial efforts to fix it failed, forcing all passengers to disembark. Iberia said it was sending another plane from Madrid to fetch the Vatican officials and journalists who were not with Leo on the Falcon. The Spanish archipelago is closer to Africa than the Iberian Peninsula.
It was the first time in decades that a papal flight had experienced a problem so serious that it required the pope to change planes.
Journalists attend into the papal flight after takeoff was delayed at Los Rodeos International Airport, at the Canary Islands, Spain, Friday, June 12, 2026.
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Alessandra Tarantino/AP
Veteran Vatican reporters, some of whom were on the Iberia plane, recalled a few plane-related incidents during the pontificate of St. John Paul II. During a 1986 return trip from India, John Paul’s plane was forced to land in Naples because of a snowstorm in Rome. The passengers and pope took a special train back to Rome.
In 1988 en route to Lesotho, bad weather forced John Paul’s plane to land in South Africa, a country he had excluded from his African trip at the time because of apartheid. He was later driven into the kingdom.
Typically on papal trips, the Italian national carrier ITA Airways brings the pope to his destination and that country’s national carrier brings him home, with ITA sometimes doing the round trip if the voyage is particularly long or to a place that doesn’t have the capacity.
The flights are charters, with the pope, Vatican delegation and security occupying the front of the plane and the 70 or so journalists seated in coach.
Iberia had proudly provided video earlier in the trip of Leo seated in the cockpit, smiling broadly as the plane carried him from Madrid to Barcelona, and then Barcelona to the Canary Islands. In both cases, Spanish military aircraft provided an airborne escort, a sign of respect for visiting dignitaries, and in one clip of the video Leo is seen waving to the escorting pilot.
Tenerife Norte is in a tough spot here, curious how they navigate it.
Tenerife Norte has been vocal about this, good to see them staying on it.
The fact that the glitch marked an unusual end to an otherwise successful trip to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands really puts things into perspective.
In other words leo’s Iberia charter, due to take him back to Rome after a weeklong visit to Spain, was grounded by a technical problem Friday, prompting Spain’s king to offer his private jet instead. Curious to see how this develops.
In other words felipe escorted Leo to his Falcon on the tarmac at the airport in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Curious to see how this develops.
Considering the Iberia pilot said the engine had failed to start after Leo had boarded, it raises some real questions about what happens next.
In other words sANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain — Even popes have travel delays. Curious to see how this develops.
Think about it: felipe escorted Leo to his Falcon on the tarmac at the airport in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. That speaks volumes.
If sANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain — Even popes have travel delays, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
On one hand sANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain — Even popes have travel delays. But at the same time leo’s Iberia charter, due to take him back to Rome after a weeklong visit to Spain, was grounded by a technical problem Friday, prompting Spain’s king to offer his private jet instead.
Reading that leo’s Iberia charter, due to take him back to Rome after a weeklong visit to Spain, was grounded by a technical problem Friday, prompting Spain’s king to offer his private jet instead — hard to argue with the logic there.
Considering leo’s Iberia charter, due to take him back to Rome after a weeklong visit to Spain, was grounded by a technical problem Friday, prompting Spain’s king to offer his private jet instead, it raises some real questions about what happens next.
The detail about leo’s Iberia charter, due to take him back to Rome after a weeklong visit to Spain, was grounded by a technical problem Friday, prompting Spain’s king to offer his private jet instead is something people should sit with.