Pope Leo XIV ended his visit to Turkey on Sunday, as he heads to Lebanon on the second leg of his apostolic trip and the first abroad since he became the head of the Catholic Church, succeeding Pope Francis last May.
The papal plane that flew him from Rome to Istanbul is one of thousands of Airbus A320 aircraft affected by a computer issue.
Around 6,000 Airbus planes were grounded this weekend after it was discovered that intense solar radiation could interfere with onboard flight control computers, according to the BBC.
For most of the affected aircraft, the issue could be resolved with a software update, but around 900 planes, including the papal plane, needed onboard computers physically replaced.
According to Director of the Holy See Press Office Matteo Bruni, a plane arrived in Istanbul from Rome on Saturday with a technician and the replacement computer for Pope Leo’s ITA Airways A320neo.
The pope is scheduled to take a two-hour flight from Istanbul to Beirut around midday Sunday.
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