Pope Leo’s plane was grounded. Then the King of Spain stepped in to help

Pope Leo XIV greets migrants at the "Las Raices" migrant centre in San Cristobal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, on June 12, 2026. (Yara Nardi/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

On board the Iberia Airways flight taking Pope Leo XIV from Tenerife back to Rome, the captain made an announcement. A technical problem had been discovered, and the plane wasn’t able to take off. Moments later the pope and some of his entourage left the aircraft.

I was one of the roughly 80 journalists on board travelling with the pope for his June 6-12 visit to Spain, and we were flying on an Iberia Airways flight back to Rome. When he travels, the pope uses a regular plane, and flies out using an ITA aircraft, while the host country often provides the plane on the way back.

The journalists travelling with the pope sit at the back of the plane, while the pope, cardinals, bishops and Vatican staff sit at the front. We pay business class fares for economy class seats, but in return get to meet the pope on the way out while he holds a press conference with reporters on the way home. The food is much better on papal flights with special menus printed with the pope’s coat of arms, which also adorn the head rests.

Papal aircraft have had technical problems in the past, but for a plane carrying the pope to be unable to take off is unheard of. It’s seen as an honour for local carriers to fly the pope, and whether it’s Aereo Dili in East Timor or Emirates in the UAE the flights normally progress seamlessly. So when the captain on Iberia made his announcement, it sparked chaos among the travelling press corps.

Eventually, we were told to disembark and news then filtered through that the pope had been offered the King of Spain’s private plane to fly back to Rome. I watched as Pope Leo walked across the tarmac to get on board and we reporters stayed back waiting for another plane to fly us to Rome.

It marked a chaotic end to what had been an historic visit to Spain by Pope Leo. The first American pope, who is a fluent Spanish speaker, drew huge crowds in Madrid, including around 1.2 million for a Mass and procession. He became the first pontiff to address Spain’s parliament receiving a seven-minute standing ovation from across representatives of the country’s intensely polarized political spectrum.

The large crowd numbers came as a surprise, with the pope telling CNN on the flight over that he knew he was competing with the Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, who had a concert in Madrid on the night Leo arrived. After plenty of speculation that Bad Bunny might somehow link up with a papal event, the Vatican confirmed that the pair had a brief, behind-closed-doors meeting, although no photos were released.

But the showstopper moment of the trip came at Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica. One hundred years after the death of Antoni Gaudí, the architect visionary behind the building, the pope celebrated a Mass in the basilica and blessed the tower of Jesus Christ, which makes it the tallest church in the world. Choristers from the oldest choir in Europe sang as the basilica was bathed in colour by a light show and fireworks. Drone lights then made Gaudí’s face light up the night sky.

Alongside the large-scale events, the pope made time for low-key but impactful moments. He met migrants at the Las Raices camp in Santa Cruz, Tenerife as he highlighted the plight of those risking their lives on wooden boats to cross the sea from west Africa to Europe. And the pope condemned those trafficking migrants telling them to “stop” and “repent,” adding that they would face “divine justice.” He used the last part of his Spain visit to travel to the Canary Islands, a major entry point for new arrivals into Europe, to highlight the plight of migrants, a major priority of his papacy. The pope also met abuse survivors privately and urged Spain’s bishops to listen to victims and make reparations.

Perhaps the most striking part of the visit was seeing the pope appearing the most relaxed and happy since the beginning of his papacy. He spoke off the cuff – which is rare for Leo – when encouraging young people to consider getting married and starting a family and talking about his time playing soccer and American Football in his youth. He pointed out that he still plays tennis and takes exercise.

Leo looked like he was enjoying himself. On one occasion he took to the cockpit of the plane during the trip from Madrid to Barcelona, talking to the pilots on the in-flight radio and waving at the military plane escort. On several occasions he delighted the crowd from the popemobile as he did the “six-seven” hand gesture, something that he likes to do frequently.

The pope taking the Spanish king’s plane meant reporters couldn’t ask him questions at the end during the in-flight press conference which remains a rare opportunity for the pope to engage in a sustained question and answer with journalists.

The last two papal trips have seen dramatic, unscheduled moments. From U.S. President Donald Trump’s extraordinary broadside against the pope on the eve of his Africa visit in April, to the unprecedented grounding of a papal flight, the Leo papacy is throwing up plenty of surprises.

By Christopher Lamb, CNN