A former Air Force pilot, Felipe VI could tell what was happening and commented about the problem to the dignitaries standing beside him at the airport.
King Felipe VI and Pope Leo XIV seemed to genuinely enjoy their last scheduled moments together. Surely mutual congratulations were in order. Leo could congratulate the King because the organizational work for the seven-day journey had been a spectacular success. Felipe could congratulate the Successor of Peter because the Church had showed itself alive, fervent, faithful. So the smiles and the few words were undoubtedly warm and sincere.
But after the good-byes and the Pope's ascent onto the plane, the Iberia A320 waited for take-off .... and then kept waiting, and waiting ...
Theories started to circulate, both for those onboard and everyone watching or listening to the live events.
But apparently one person in particular was able to guess what was going on.
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, was standing in the line of dignitaries alongside the King.
He told Ángel Expósito of the Spanish COPE news agency what happened next: “We were thinking it was running a bit late, weren’t we? And you won’t believe it, but the King said, ‘There’s an engine that isn’t running,’” explained the Canarian president.
As is customary for Spanish Royalty, the King has had military service, specifically as an Air Force pilot (in fact one of the many tender moments of the trip was the Pope and the King surrounded by the King's family, speaking about the future queen, Princess Leonor, recently doing parachute training and jumping out of the plane. Both His Majesty and His Holiness agreed they wouldn't be up for that!)
"We kept waiting until someone from the airport control tower came over to ask what the problem was, and sure enough, engine number one wouldn’t start," Clavijo continued.
“And so I said, ‘Your Majesty, you were right!'"
As Aleteia has reported here and here, the drama was resolved by another gesture from the King -- this time the offering of his own private plane to bring the Pope and a few Vatican dignitaries back to Rome.
Thanks to this generosity, Leo landed in Rome on Friday at 11:05 pm, later than originally planned but still the same day. For his part, Felipe had to wait another three hours for a plane to arrive from Madrid to transport him back to the capital.
Once safely landed in Rome, Leo XIV expressed his gratitude to the Falcon crew, who had stepped in for what was undoubtedly an honor in the midst of the surprise. He posed for a photograph with them, and assured them: “You have saved us.”
Here we see the Pope in the King's plane, with the military escort:
All in all, the evening concluded with yet another reason for Spain to be proud of this trip.
All the Pope's homilies and speeches can be read here.
