Pope Francis greets Mapuches in an offertory of a Mass at the Maquehue Air Base, in Temuco, Chile, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Francis is urging the Mapuche people to reject violence in pushing their cause. Francis made the comments Wednesday while celebrating Mass in Temuco. The city is the capital of the Araucania region, where many of Chile's estimated 1 million people of Mapuche descent live.
Pope Francis greets Mapuches in an offertory of a Mass at the Maquehue Air Base, in Temuco, Chile, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Francis is urging the Mapuche people to reject violence in pushing their cause. Francis made the comments Wednesday while celebrating Mass in Temuco. The city is the capital of the Araucania region, where many of Chile's estimated 1 million people of Mapuche descent live. Alessandra Tarantino AP Photo
Pope Francis greets Mapuches in an offertory of a Mass at the Maquehue Air Base, in Temuco, Chile, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Francis is urging the Mapuche people to reject violence in pushing their cause. Francis made the comments Wednesday while celebrating Mass in Temuco. The city is the capital of the Araucania region, where many of Chile's estimated 1 million people of Mapuche descent live. Alessandra Tarantino AP Photo

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The Latest: Pope marries couple on papal plane in Chile

The Associated Press

January 18, 2018 08:52 AM

SANTIAGO, Chile

The Latest on Pope Francis' visit to South America (all times local):

10:40 a.m.

Pope Francis has celebrated the first-ever airborne papal wedding, marrying two flight attendants from Chile's flagship airline during a flight from Santiago.

Bride Paola Podest and groom Carlos Ciuffardi said "I do" Thursday morning after telling Francis that they had been married in a civil service in 2010. However they said they were unable to follow up with a church ceremony because of the 2010 earthquake that hit Chile.

Francis then offered to marry the LATAM flight attendants aboard the aircraft en route to the northern city of Iquique, and they both readily agreed. The head of the airline served as the witness.

Ciuffardi told journalists in the aisle of the Airbus 321 that Francis told him it was, "historic" and no pope had ever before married a couple aboard a plane.