All I can say is that the Pope's helicopter certainly did not fly in a straight line from takeoff to landing; it meandered all over the place, at low level, before after about 12 minutes of local sightseeing, climbing to a safe altitude and proceeding to destination. The total flight took more than 20 minutes, that's for sure, and I was watching it live on the BBC news channel. Not BBC 1.
It was a government helicopter, flown by Italian airforce pilots, so said the comentator.