Vatican to Launch Charter Flights to Holy Sites
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 08.21.07 | 11:50 AM ET
Religious pilgrims will now be able to fly to Santiago di Compostela, Spain; the shrine of the Madonna of Guadalupe, Mexico; and other sacred sites via official Vatican charter flights, the BBC reports. The first flight takes off Monday from Rome bound for Lourdes, France, with religious guides and the vicar of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, aboard. Routes from other cities may be introduced, according to RTE News. The planes, which will be provided by the Italian airline Mistral, will feature the phrase “I’m Searching for Your Face, Lord” on seat headrests.
Religious tourism, the BBC notes, is “already big business, with some 200 million Christian pilgrims expected to visit holy places in different parts of the world this year.”
Related on World Hum:
* ‘I Am Born Naked and The Church Wants Me To Be Wearing Pants’
* India’s ‘Spiritual Backbone’: Two End-to-End Explorations Down the Ganges River
* Q&A with Sean O’Reilly: The Journey Inward
Related on TravelChannel.com:
Video: Samantha Brown’s Passport to Europe: The Vatican
Photo of Vatican City by soylentgreen23, via Flickr (Creative Commons).