Pope Leo XIV's return flight grounded; Spanish King Felipe VI provides private jet

Pope Leo XIV concluded his seven-day visit to Spain on June 12, 2026, but faced an unexpected travel disruption when his chartered Iberia Airbus A320 experienced an engine startup failure at Tenerife North Airport. After the pope had already boarded and farewell ceremonies with King Felipe VI had concluded, the captain announced the technical fault; initial attempts to resolve it failed, and all passengers were asked to disembark. King Felipe, who had just bid the pope farewell on the runway, personally re-boarded the plane and escorted Leo back to the terminal before offering his own Falcon military jet as a replacement. Leo and members of his delegation departed roughly three hours late, landing in Rome at approximately 11:00 p.m. local time, while Vatican officials and journalists were left to await a replacement Iberia aircraft sent from Madrid. The week-long trip had three distinct legs — Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands — with Leo celebrating an open-air Mass attended by over one million people in Madrid, inaugurating the tallest tower of the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, and delivering a powerful migration-focused message in the Canary Islands, where he met with humanitarian organizations, visited a migrant reception camp, and cast a wreath into the sea to honor the thousands who have died crossing from Africa. Leo urged migrants to integrate into host societies while also condemning human traffickers, telling smugglers to 'stop and repent' or face divine justice. His July 4 visit to Lampedusa, Italy, is already scheduled, further cementing migration as a defining theme of his papacy.