Pope’s holiness is ‘contagious’ says Sri Lankan flight crew VILLAMOR AIR BASE, Parañaque City, Jan. 15, 2015—Purser Eden Forbes and the crew members of the Sri Lankan Airlines flight that carried the Holy Father to Manila said they feel like earning halos over their heads after spending less than six hours with Pope Francis. “I feel [like I have] a halo above my head,” Forbes beamed as he tried to described to CBCP News how it is like flying with the Pope. His fellow flight steward and stewardesses nodded and smiled in agreement. Forbes headed the 16-men crew of Flight ALK 4111 that flew the Pope for 5 hours and 45 minutes from Bandaranaike International Airport near Colombo to Villamor Air Base in Pasay City earlier this evening. Like the crew, the three captains that commanded the flight are all Catholics, who only make up 7 percent of Sri Lanka’s 20 million population. Forbes went on to describe Pope Francis as “very nice, gentle and holy and never complains as a passenger.” The Holy Father occupied seat 1C on the Airbus 340 aircraft. Crew members have already kept what was left of the Pope’s inflight items as a souvenir of their historic experience. Aside from meeting journalists for the usual inflight press briefing, Pope Francis also went to personally greet the pilots commanding the aircraft. In meeting the Pope, Captain Marlon Perera said he believes they all received a special blessing from the leader of the Catholic Church. “It was a blessing for all of us. I felt blessed because you can fly a president of any country, but not the Pope. That’s once in a lifetime,” Perera pointed out. The pilot also emphasized that “flying with the Pope was never a pressure. It is a pleasure.” Asked of their last message to Pope Francis, Forbes and Perera sincerely said, “thank you very much and come again! It will be a pleasure to have you back!” (CBCP News)
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 19:59:16 +0000
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