Earlier this week, Pope Leo XIV spent time in the cockpit of an Air France Airbus A321-200 as he flew from Tarbes–Lourdes–Pyrénées Airport (LDE) in the southwest of the country to Metz–Nancy–Lorraine Airport (ETZ) in the northeast. During this time, he offered blessings to the flight’s cabin crew, as well as, by radio, the pilots of the fighter jets that were accompanying the special flight across France.