--- description: The Pope flew out of Italy, headed for Colombia, but his plane was forced to change route due to Hurricane Irma. title: Hurricane Irma Forced Pope Francis' Plane to Change Course image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt031613fa7220513a/6988dc940a4a224a549cfc4b/popefrancis-plane.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [hurricane irma](/tag/hurricane-irma/) ## hurricane irma Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Hurricane Irma Forced Pope Francis' Plane to Change Course by [Reuters](/author/reuters/) ## Reuters Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 6, 2017 11:06 AM CUT  Pope Francis boards his plane in Rome on Sept. 6, 2017 before a five-day trip to Colombia. Pope Francis boards his plane in Rome on Sept. 6, 2017 before a five-day trip to Colombia.Gregorio Borgia—AP by [Reuters](/author/reuters/) ## Reuters Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 6, 2017 11:06 AM CUT (ROME) – Pope Francis flew out of Italy on Wednesday headed for Colombia, with his plane forced to change route because of Hurricane Irma, which is powering across the northern Caribbean. The Alitalia aircraft had been expected to fly over the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, but will instead shift south and cross the islands of Barbados, Grenada and Trinidad, a Vatican official said. Recent forecasts show that Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, will hit Puerto Rico later on Wednesday. Francis, making his 20th foreign trip as pontiff and his fifth to his native Latin America, will spend five days in Colombia to encourage a peace process that ended half a century of war between the state and the guerrilla group FARC. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4928798/pope-francis-plane-hurricane-irma/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4928798/pope-francis-plane-hurricane-irma/"},"headline":"Hurricane Irma Forced Pope Francis' Plane to Change Course","datePublished":"2017-09-06T11:06:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:17:57.438Z","description":"Irma is one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century","url":"https://time.com/4928798/pope-francis-plane-hurricane-irma/","keywords":["hurricane irma","Pope Francis topic","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt031613fa7220513a/6988dc940a4a224a549cfc4b/popefrancis-plane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Reuters","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/reuters/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt031613fa7220513a/6988dc940a4a224a549cfc4b/popefrancis-plane.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Italy Vatican Pope Colombia","caption":"Italy Vatican Pope Colombia","creditText":"Gregorio Borgia—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/hurricane-irma/","name":"hurricane irma"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4928798/pope-francis-plane-hurricane-irma/","name":"Hurricane Irma Forced Pope Francis' Plane to Change Course"}}]}] ```