On his way to begin his Apostolic Journey to Colombia, Pope Francis has asked the press to pray for Venezuela, over which he will fly, “so that it can arrive at dialogue and so that the country finds good stability again through dialogue with all.”
The Holy Father greeted the journalists accompanying him on his 20th international trip on the plane taking him from Rome to Bogota on September 6, 2017.
“Thank you for your company and for the work you will do; thank you for accompanying me,” he said to them.
This trip, he also noted, is “a bit special,” because its objective is “to help” Colombians “go forward on the path of peace.”
The Pontiff’s Alitalia plane took off from Rome’s international Fiumicino airport at 11:10 am. It is expected to arrive at Bogota’s CATAM air base around 4:30 pm local time (11:30 pm Rome time).
The flight over 10,000 kilometers, initially scheduled at 12:30 pm, might undergo some changes given hurricane Irma, unleashed in the Atlantic. The Pope will fly over France, Spain, Portugal, Puerto Rico, the Antilles and Venezuela.
