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 color 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 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 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.

One person was killed and 11 others were taken to hospitals after a large tent at a Virginia church event collapsed during a storm and high winds Friday, authorities said.
The tent collapsed around 6:45 p.m. as an event was being held outside of EastLake Community Church in Moneta, Bedford County acting fire and rescue Chief Abbey Johnston told reporters.
Johnston said the pastor was in the process of evacuating the tent, which has seats for 1,500, when the collapse occurred.
“It happened very quickly,” she said.
Johnston did not have the condition of the 11 people who were transported to hospitals. Another 11 were treated at the scene and released, she said.
The tent collapse occurred as most of Virginia was under a severe thunderstorm watch, including in the Moneta area, until 9 p.m. Friday.
“The tent collapsed as a result of, we believe, the winds that came through,” Johnston said. “Initially, I’m told it was a very chaotic scene, trying to account for individuals.”
Johnston said that the commercial tent was properly secured. The fire chief of a different department and members were there when the incident occurred and quickly responded and helped people to safety, she said.
The church had advertised an event with food, a service and water activities for children and ice cream Friday.
It’s part of a “multiply week” celebration, which was advertised as a time for families to come and connect with one another which was to be held under a large tent.
Moneta is a community of around 450 people around 18 miles east of Roanoke.
Pastor Troy Keaton said on Facebook that the “church family suffered a great tragedy tonight.”
“Just as I had walked to the stage to release people to their cars a burst of wind picked up the tent,” Keaton wrote.
He said that “Sadly one of our dear brothers suffered a fatal injury,” and others were injured.
“We are currently focused on caring and praying for them,” he said.

Shalit, the bushy-haired mustachioed television personality who reviewed books and movies on “The Today Show” for 40 years, died Friday. His family told NBC News he “passed away peacefully today after 100 years of an amazing life.”
Shalit appeared on NBC’s “The Today Show” from 1970 until his retirement in 2010, sporting his signature bow ties and large glasses and working numerous puns into his film and book reviews in the “Critic’s Corner” segments.
In addition to his reviews, he interviewed celebrities from Steven Spielberg to the Grateful Dead to Helen Hayes.
“It was always magical for me to see Gene on the screen,” CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric said upon his retirement in 2010. “I think Gene was a master at doing celebrity interviews. He interviewed Sophia Loren and you could tell he was completed mesmerized by her.”
His long tenure on “The Today Show” made him one of the few recognizable film critics, which led to him being featured in several animated shows. “SpongeBob Square Pants” dubbed him Gene Scallop, a fish food critic for whom Shalit provided the voice. He was parodied in four episodes of “Family Guy,” voiced a character playing himself on “The Critic” and was portrayed in “The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence.”
“Saturday Night Live” also parodied the popular critic, with Jon Lovitz and later Horatio Sanz portraying Shalit. On “Second City Television,” he was portrayed by the equally bushy-eyebrowed Eugene Levy.
Born in New York City, he graduated the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where like fellow critic Roger Ebert many years later, he wrote for the Daily Illini newspaper. Early in his career he was a press agent for Dick Clark, a job which ended during a Congressional investigation of payola.
He turned to writing about entertainment in the late 1960s for publications including Look, Ladies’ Home Journal, TV Guide and The New York Times. He also authored four books of humor.
Shalit also broadcast daily essays called “Man About Anything” on the NBC Radio Network from 1970 to 1982.
He is survived by a son and a daughter. Another daughter and his wife, Nancy Lewis, pre-deceased him.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins watched sterile flies being released to fight the New World screwworm on Thursday and visited the Texas ranch where one of the first cases of the pest was detected. The screwworm could devastate the nation’s cattle industry.
Later, she repeated her assertion that former President Joe Biden’s administration is responsible for the parasite’s return to the U.S. six decades after it was eradicated. Democratic leaders say cuts to the nation’s agriculture agency under President Donald Trump are to blame.
WATCH: News Wrap: 3 more screwworm cases found in Texas and New Mexico
Screwworms are on their way to becoming a billion-dollar international problem, but can be contained if ranchers are vigilant, watch their herds and other wildlife, and quickly treat any infestations, Rollins said. She pointed to the calf where screwworms were found six days earlier in a wound where its umbilical cord had been attached.
“He couldn’t be happier. He’s bouncing around the pasture,” Rollins said.
Screwworms are flies that lay their eggs in the wounds of warm-blooded animals and feed on living flesh rather than dead tissues. Scientists say releasing sterile flies to mate with females is the most effective way to control the population, a strategy that has worked for decades. A warming planet is complicating efforts by giving screwworms, which thrive in hot, humid weather, more places to spread.
Billion-dollar response planned to fight screwworms
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is preparing an all-out assault on the screwworm, which had been contained in the narrow isthmus of Panama for decades.
No matter the cause, driving screwworms back south and keeping them out of the U.S. will be expensive. The USDA estimated it would spend over $1 billion on efforts to save cattle herds and other livestock.
About $750 million will go toward building and operating a plant capable of producing up to 300 million sterile flies a week. The technique has been used for decades, as female screwworms mate just once, and if they choose a sterile mate, their eggs don’t hatch, and the fly population dwindles.
READ MORE: What to know about the New World screwworm fly and its U.S. reappearance
The goal is to protect the U.S. cattle industry. Experts think the parasite shouldn’t cause an immediate increase in near-record-high beef prices as long as it doesn’t turn into an outbreak and large groups of cattle die. Screwworms don’t affect food safety.
The parasite has already disrupted the Mexican beef industry. The U.S. closed its southern ports to Mexican livestock last summer.
Mexico has had more than 28,000 cases of screwworms since the flies returned two years ago, mostly confined to its southern states. The Mexican government stopped the importation of almost all live animals from the U.S. after screwworms were discovered here.
Scientists aren’t sure how screwworms emerged again
The U.S. had been almost entirely rid of screwworms for 60 years, with scientists in North and Central America eventually driving it down to the containment zone in Panama. But in 2023, the flies emerged and began heading back north.
Experts say screwworms are here to stay at least for this summer. Seven cases have already been detected in Texas and New Mexico. A 12-mile (20-kilometer) quarantine zone goes up around every place a case is found.
As they work toward a solution, scientists say they aren’t sure exactly what led to screwworms leaving the area in Panama where they were boxed in.
“I don’t have the answer to that one, and I don’t know if anyone does. It doesn’t help us to speculate,” said Jonathan Cammack, a professor of livestock entomology and parasitology at Oklahoma State University.
WATCH: Rollins holds update as USDA confirms more screwworm cases, including 1 outside Texas
The key now is to ramp up the sterile fly program and get international cooperation to get the pests back down to Panama, he said.
Climate change is also helping drive the spread of screwworms, said Lee Haines, an associate research professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame.
“The fly is a creature of warmth as its entire life cycle, from egg to adult, can complete in as little as three weeks under tropical conditions,” Haines said.
Even Canada has temporarily stopped importing cattle, horses or other livestock from Texas. The parasites prefer humid areas where temperatures are at least 77 F (25 C), and those days are increasing further north.
Democrats question cuts; Republicans blame immigration
As Rollins moves quickly to implement a billion-dollar response to the screwworm outbreak, she has also blamed the Biden administration, noting that it was in office as the parasite began moving north again.
She said without showing any evidence the flies were with animals that followed immigrants north as well as hitching rides with cattle and other animals being sold by Mexican cartels outside of regular markets.
“People moving north to America, bringing their livestock with them, the Mexican cartels with the illicit cattle traffic, we knew it was coming,” Rollins told the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Screwworm fly detected in Texas decades after cattle threat was largely eradicated in U.S.
Nearly a dozen Democratic U.S. senators sent a letter to Rollins this week questioning whether job losses at the USDA have hurt food inspections and livestock safety programs.
Nearly 20% of the counties in the U.S. that started 2025 with at least one employee from the federal Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service ended the year with none, the letter said.
Rollins said she has moved over 100 USDA employees into the screwworm response. She said it has been one of her top priorities since Trump picked her to lead the USDA.
But Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of California said blaming Biden is shortsighted and again shows the Trump administration creates problems through reckless spending cuts.
“The life cycle of a screwworm is about 14 to 54 days, depending on temperature and humidity. The Trump administration has been in office for over 500 days,” Lieu said earlier this week. “This is on the Trump administration. They need to own up to it, and they need to apologize.”

Residents in tornado-ravaged areas in Illinois and Indiana were grappling with the damage to their homes and neighborhoods on Friday, after the strong line of storms barreled through communities south of Chicago and left trails of destruction. Cleanup efforts have begun, the AP reports, and utility companies said power restoration efforts could extend into next week. Thursday’s storms ripped roofs off buildings, flattened homes, brought down scores of trees and power lines, and caused hundreds of thousands of power outages and major air traffic disruptions. Officials said there were no reports of deaths or life-threatening injuries, though several people were treated for minor injuries.
Tornado damage was reported in several towns including Merrillville and Hebron in Indiana and Streator, Illinois. Authorities surveyed the damage Friday and prepared to issue emergency declarations needed to get recovery funding. Marsha Smith was in her apartment building in Merrillville, about 33 miles southeast of Chicago, when the tornado struck the complex, tearing roofs off three buildings, knocking down trees, and breaking car windshields before heavy rain caused more damage to the homes. She and neighbors huddled under an indoor stairwell holding hands and praying. “The louder the tornado got, the louder I started praying,” said Smith, 54, a CPR instructor. Smith said there was an eerie calm just before the tornado struck. Then it sounded like a freight train smashing into her building, she said. No one was hurt. On Friday morning, she surveyed her neighborhood and described it as a catastrophe.
Officials in Merrillville said more than 200 buildings were damaged, including some that were destroyed. Downed trees and power lines blocked streets, and part of a high school’s roof was ripped off. Crews worked into the night clearing roads. The American Red Cross set up a 700-bed shelter. In Streator, a manufacturing and farm city about 100 miles southwest of Chicago, officials said nearly a dozen homes were damaged, including some that were destroyed. A reunification center for displaced residents was set up in its city hall, and the Red Cross opened a shelter. Streator Mayor Tara Bedei said no deaths were reported.
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