[Gocamino] Vatican plans airways to heaven

[Grant Spangler]

Vatican plans airways to heaven

Tom Kington in Rome
Wednesday August 15, 2007
The Guardian

The Vatican may have territorial limits, its own post office and even a 
football tournament, but it has hitherto lacked what all real states offer: 
an airline.

That will be put right this month as the Vatican launches its first charter 
flights for pilgrims from Rome to Lourdes, with some of the world's top 
religious destinations to follow, including the shrine of Fatima in Portugal 
and the shrine of the Madonna of Guadalupe in Mexico.

"The spirit of this new initiative is to meet the growing demand by pilgrims 
to visit the most important sites for the faith," Father Cesare Atuire at 
the Vatican pilgrimage office, the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, told La 
Repubblica. He said that with 8 million visitors a year, Lourdes was an 
obvious first destination.

The flights come thanks to a deal with Italian charter airline Mistral, 
whose blue and yellow colours coincidentally match the Vatican's, noted CEO 
Valerio Vaglio.

Mr Vaglio said the headrests on passengers' seats would sport the logo "I'm 
Searching for Your Face, Lord", while religious guides would be on hand, 
alongside the usual stewards.

The inaugural flight will include Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the former head of 
the Italian Bishops Conference, La Repubblica said.

Mistral was launched by the Italian action and comedy film star Bud Spencer 
and today it is controlled by the Italian post office. Mr Vaglio said that 
at night, the aircraft flying pilgrimage routes will have their seats 
removed and be converted back to flying sacks of mail.

Father Atuire hinted that luxury would not be a selling point. "The cost of 
the packages will bear in mind that the customers will be pilgrims," he 
said.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,2148946,00.html

Not mentioned in the article, Mistral Air is also going to Santiago de 
Compostela; I found references to this in Italian and French news releases. 
I wonder if the Compostela will be rolled into the package, being a 
Church-sponsored air pilgrimage. The planes are reconfigured Italian Post 
Office 737s, seats in for pilgrims, seats out for the mail. Ever used the 
Italian Post?

Buon Viaggio,

Grant

Grant Spangler
GASpangler at hotmail.com
http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago
http://community.webshots.com/user/ElCaminoSantiago