When I boarded the Pope’s plane, an ITA Airways chartered Airbus 330, the Vatican media started chatting in Italian and someone shared a photo on Twitter: “Il Papa è a bordo.” The Pope is on board.
Another photo, taken by Italian Jesuit priest and journalist Antonio Spadaro, shows the pope in a first-class seat, hands folded in prayer, with an image of the Madonna, Our Lady of Bonaria, on the wall in front of him.
The plane itself has no Vatican insignia on the outside. It is blue, with the colors of the Italian flag – green, white and red – on the tail. There is no Holy Cross, nothing to say that he carried the head of the Catholic Church more than 8,000 kilometers to Canada.
About 75 journalists were inside, along with the pope’s nurse, a doctor, a security team made up of Swiss Guards and 11 advisers, including Canadian Cardinals Michael Cerny and Cardinal Mark Ouellet.
The papal plane offers a front-row seat to history.
I never imagined I’d be here. This was my first papal flight, but the journalists around me had made dozens of trips before. In fact, several have been on this plane more than 100 times, making their first papal flight with John Paul II, who was head of the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death in 2005.
Different rules apply during the flight. Photographers were given window seats to arrange their gear. Tripods were extended and audio cables ran down aisles. As the plane took off, photographers clutched their equipment to keep it from tipping over. It’s a production studio in the air.
Once the plane reached altitude, we were told that Pope Francis would greet people on board, something he has done on previous trips. The Pope’s mobility is questionable. An arthritic knee prevented him from traveling to Africa in June. The trip was canceled on medical advice. Given the physical challenges, Vatican journalists on board asked questions about his appearance: “How will the pope move?” “Will he sit down to speak?” He did not.
About an hour into the journey, Pope Francis emerged from the front of the plane. Leaning heavily on a cane, he spoke of the journey ahead, a journey he felt should be handled with care. Turning to a guide, he said, “I believe I can handle it. Let’s try.” He took the first steps into the cabin.
Some members of the media brought him gifts, cards, flowers, a framed print. He spent some time talking to people. He blessed a man. He smiled at the veteran Vatican reporters who had traveled with him so many times before, and when he reached me, I nervously told him that I was a Canadian journalist and it was a pleasure to meet him. He smiled and nodded. His handshake was warm.
It was expected to be a grueling trip for the pope, three cities covering more than 3,000 kilometers with two events scheduled on most days.
Each morning starts with breakfast around 5am while gear is inspected by security and sniffed by dogs before departure.
The Vatican communications team has a very busy schedule. Before each event there was a roll call of journalists and then an outline of what to expect from the event. The Vatican team, including journalists, had to be on site before the pope arrived, which usually meant arriving at a location up to two hours in advance.
This is a historic journey. An apology in Indigenous homelands, generations in the making, and it was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 58th call to action.
Pope Francis was greeted with tears and cheers at the powwow gazebo in Muskwatzis, Alta., where he issued his first apology for the trip, asking forgiveness for a “deplorable evil” and describing the trip as a “penitential pilgrimage.”
Then cheers at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium as he kissed babies brought to him by the crowd before Holy Mass. This was followed by a moment of prayerful silence on the shores of Lac Ste. Anne, a spiritual place for indigenous people and Catholics as he blesses the lake.
But there was also a mixed reaction. The lack of local culture or traditions during the Holy Mass was described as a “missed opportunity”, while Si Phih Ko, who spontaneously sang in Cree to the Pope after his apology in Maskwacis, said she did so because it affected her family too much a lot. She told CTV Edmonton, “I had to speak up.”
Then to Quebec City, where he arrived not in an armored car but in his usual Fiat to further express his “shame and sorrow” at the role Catholic institutions play in the local school system.
With one stop left on his trip, Iqaluit, where he will meet with school survivors and attend a community event organized by Inuit leaders at a local elementary school, Vatican sources say Pope Francis is pleased with the trip.
They called it a penance trip and I had a front row seat to the story.
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