By Inés San Martín, Special to The Tablet

ONBOARD THE PAPAL PLANE – There’s never a dull moment with the whirlwind that is Pope Francis, who has many times labeled the pope of firsts: Onboard the Airbus 321 going from Santiago to the northern city to Iquique in Chile, he married a couple that asked for his blessing.

Paula Podest, 39, and Carlos Ciufardi, 41, have been together for over ten years. They met in the air, where she was his boss as a stewardess for LATAM, Chile’s flagship airline.

They have been civilly married since 2010. Days before they were scheduled to have their church wedding, an earthquake destroyed the church where they were supposed to marry.

On Thursday, as they were posing with Pope Francis and the rest of the crew for the official picture, he asked them if they were married in the Church. They told him no, and the pontiff immediately took charge, asking them if they wanted him to marry them, and they agreed.

The newlyweds shared the conversation they had with the pontiff with the journalists, with Podest acknowledging that she was “still in shock,” so he did most of the talking, even though, from what they told journalists, “she’s still the boss in the house,” as she was at the airline when they met.

“It was historic,” the pope told them. “Never has a pope married a couple on a plane.”

“He asked us if we were married, I said no because of the earthquake, and he said, ‘well, I’ll marry you’,” according to Ciufardi.

The spouses asked the pontiff if he was certain about marrying them on the plane, asking him “are you sure?”

When the pope asked for a witness, they tapped the CEO of the airline, and to make sure there was no doubt over the validity of the sacrament, the pope “asked the cardinals who were with him” to draft the license, which they did. The document is handmade, signed by one of the cardinals, also a witness.

“He held our hands, blessed the rings, and he married us in the name of God,” Ciufardi said.

“What he said to us is very important: ‘This is the sacrament the world needs, the sacrament of marriage. Hopefully, this will motivate couples around the world to get married’,” Ciufardi said.

Speaking about the rings, Francis said that they shouldn’t be either too tight, because “they would be a torture,” nor too loose, or else they might risk misplacing them.

The couple will now spend the night in Iquique, and then head back to Santiago, to celebrate with their families.