Papal surprise takes couple to new heights

CHILE: Pope Francis has celebrated the first airborne papal wedding, marrying two flight attendants from Chile’s flagship airline at 36,000 feet during a flight from the capital, Santiago.

Bride Paula Podest, 39, and groom Carlos Ciuffardi, 41, said ‘‘I do’' yesterday after telling Francis that they had been married in a civil service in 2010 but were unable to follow it up with a church ceremony because their local church was damaged in the February 2010 earthquake that rocked Chile.

Francis then offered to marry the LATAM flight attendants aboard the Airbus 321 en route to the northern beach city of Iquique, and they readily agreed. The head of the airline served as the witness.

‘‘He told me it’s historic, that there has never before been a pope who married someone aboard a plane,’' Ciuffardi told journalists aboard the flight.

Ciuffardi said the pope also told them: ‘‘This is the sacrament that is missing in the world, the sacrament of marriage. May this motivate others to get the sacrament of marriage. I’ll do it for this reason.’'

Podest and Ciuffardi, who have two children, aged 6 and 3, said they planned to take a ‘‘minihoneymoon’' Santiago today.

Francis wrapped up his visit to Chile in Iquique, where he celebrated Mass for members of the city’s growing immigrant community before heading to Peru.

The flight crew was gathering at the front of the plane for a photo with the pope when Podest and Ciuffardi told him they were married and he motioned for them to sit next to him.

‘‘We told him that we are husband and wife, that we have two daughters and that we would have loved to receive his blessing,’' Ciuffardi said. ‘‘All of a sudden he asked us if we were married in the church, too.’'

A Vatican official hastily drew up an official, albeit handwritten marriage certificate.

Podest said Francis offered a bit of advice. ‘‘The wedding rings shouldn’t be too tight, because they’ll torture you, but if they’re too loose, they’ll fall off.’’

Podest said she and Ciuffardi had also explained to Francis that when they started dating, she was his boss at LATAM. Francis asked if she was still the boss, and both readily agreed. ‘‘And that’s why the marriage works,’' Ciuffardi said.