Pope marries couple on plane

ABOARD THE PAPAL

PLANE (AP):

Pope Francis celebrated the first ever airborne papal wedding on Thursday, marrying two flight attendants from Chile's flagship airline at 36,000 feet during a flight from Santiago.

Bride Paula Podest, 39, and groom, Carlos Ciuffardi, 41, said "I do" after telling Francis that they had been married in a civil service in 2010 but had been unable to follow up with a church ceremony because of the 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 been a pope who married someone aboard a plane," Ciuffardi told journalists in the aisle.