Pope Francis' sixth International Voyage, to Turkey, began this morning. The aircraft carrying the Holy Father (an Alitalia A320) left Rome's Fumicino airport at 9:03 this morning and arrived in the Esemboğa international airport in Ankara at 1:00pm local time (GMT+2).
In keeping with the established practice during such voyages, at the moment of leaving the territory of Italy, while travelling in airspace above Albania and Greece, and at the moment when he entered Turkish airspace, the Holy Father sent greetings to the Heads of State of those territories.
Father Lombardi
Holy Father, thank you for coming to give your greetings to us at the beginning of this voyage, for which we too express our best wishes. We know that this voyage will be challenging for the area where we will be visiting, both for ecumenical and for inter-religious relations ... Therefore it will be short but very concentrated and important. We are accompanying you on this journey with our prayer, with our attention and with our support, for whatever it's worth, even in our capacity as informants. We are a good little group, as you can see: there are 65 of us on this trip, representing various countries, various media outlets, as usual, we are a bit of mix, trying to take account of media in various languages and so on. Many of us, you already know, we have faithfully followed you on other travels. There are also two Turkish women who are with us on this voyage: Ms. Esma Cakir, who is waving, and Ms Yasemin Taskin, who is waving now, and who will later ask some questions, also during the return flight of course.
And there is another reason to celebrate this morning: there is one among us, who is hiding there in the back, who is celebrating his 62nd birthday today. It's his birthday: Jean-Louis de La Vaissière and we join you in presenting him with our best wishes today.
Now, of course, I'll pass you the microphone, if you would like to say something:
Pope Francis
Good morning. I welcome you and I want to thank you for your company on this voyage, for your work is a support, a help and even a service to the world: a service to the world to make this religious and humanitarian activity known, because at this moment, Turkey is witnessing and offering help to many refugees from conflict zones. I thank you for your service. We will speak again upon our return for the press conference. Thank you very much; enjoy your visit to Turkey.
Father Lombardi
Thank you very much, Holy Father. Enjoy the trip. We are following you attentively. On a trip such as this, our presence on the flight is very important, because there are two stages to the trip, and we are practically the only journalists who will be present both in Ankara and in Istanbul to follow your travels closely. Therefore, we have a very important role to play in sharing this information, and we want to assure you that we will do our very best to collaborate with you in your ministry. Thank you, Holy Father; have a good trip.
In keeping with the established practice during such voyages, at the moment of leaving the territory of Italy, while travelling in airspace above Albania and Greece, and at the moment when he entered Turkish airspace, the Holy Father sent greetings to the Heads of State of those territories.
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
to journalists aboard the flight from Rome to Ankara
Father Lombardi
Holy Father, thank you for coming to give your greetings to us at the beginning of this voyage, for which we too express our best wishes. We know that this voyage will be challenging for the area where we will be visiting, both for ecumenical and for inter-religious relations ... Therefore it will be short but very concentrated and important. We are accompanying you on this journey with our prayer, with our attention and with our support, for whatever it's worth, even in our capacity as informants. We are a good little group, as you can see: there are 65 of us on this trip, representing various countries, various media outlets, as usual, we are a bit of mix, trying to take account of media in various languages and so on. Many of us, you already know, we have faithfully followed you on other travels. There are also two Turkish women who are with us on this voyage: Ms. Esma Cakir, who is waving, and Ms Yasemin Taskin, who is waving now, and who will later ask some questions, also during the return flight of course.
And there is another reason to celebrate this morning: there is one among us, who is hiding there in the back, who is celebrating his 62nd birthday today. It's his birthday: Jean-Louis de La Vaissière and we join you in presenting him with our best wishes today.
Now, of course, I'll pass you the microphone, if you would like to say something:
Pope Francis
Good morning. I welcome you and I want to thank you for your company on this voyage, for your work is a support, a help and even a service to the world: a service to the world to make this religious and humanitarian activity known, because at this moment, Turkey is witnessing and offering help to many refugees from conflict zones. I thank you for your service. We will speak again upon our return for the press conference. Thank you very much; enjoy your visit to Turkey.
Father Lombardi
Thank you very much, Holy Father. Enjoy the trip. We are following you attentively. On a trip such as this, our presence on the flight is very important, because there are two stages to the trip, and we are practically the only journalists who will be present both in Ankara and in Istanbul to follow your travels closely. Therefore, we have a very important role to play in sharing this information, and we want to assure you that we will do our very best to collaborate with you in your ministry. Thank you, Holy Father; have a good trip.
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