Rome, Italy, Aug 16, 2007 / 08:22 am
A new Vatican-approved charter air service will launch later this month with a flight to the shrine of Lourdes in France. The guide will be Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the former head of the Italian Bishops Conference.
Mistral Air plans to shuttle Catholic pilgrims around the globe to holy sites, including the shrines of Fatima in Portugal and of Guadalupe in Mexico.
Its slogan is: "I'm Searching for Your Face, Lord".
"The spirit of this new initiative is to meet the growing demand by pilgrims to visit the most important sites for the faith," Fr. Cesare Atuire at the Vatican pilgrimage office, the Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, told La Repubblica daily.