Report: Ex-firefighter breached security to join 'Pope' motorcade

A former New York City firefighter in a black SUV breached security at John F. Kennedy International Airport Saturday and joined a motorcade to the spot on the tarmac where the plane transporting Pope Francis had been parked.

Christopher Cannella, 39, of Long Island, was behind the wheel of a Chevy Tahoe – and in possession of a 12-inch knife - when he joined what he thought was the pontiff's convoy at about 6 p.m., according to a report in the New York Daily News.  But the Holy Father, and his American Airlines Boeing 777, was already long gone.

Cannella somehow missed the news that Pope Francis was in Philadelphia attending the World Meeting of Families Festival on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The confused ex-firefighter had infiltrated the caravan of vehicles escorting the president of Turkmenistan.

"I want to change the world," Cannella later told police, according to the report published Monday afternoon.

A source told the paper that Cannella had flashed something that looked like an official badge and was able to drive through an airport checkpoint. According to court papers, Cannella was able to get within 20 yards of the Turkmenistan president but did not accost him.  After President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow took off on his 7:15 p.m. flight, Cannella followed the motorcade out of the airport.

Minutes later he spotted another fleet of official looking vehicles heading to JFK and pulled a U-turn. He attempted to follow the new motorcade – this time carrying the Italian Prime Minister - into airport but was stopped at gate by a Port Authority officer.

Questioned by law enforcement officials, Cannella presented "a retired FDNY badge and identification" and told officials that a Secret Service agent previously had allowed him through the checkpoint.

Cannella was being held Monday on $500,000 bail after being charged with criminal trespass and other counts.