Round 250,000 mourners flooded the streets of Rome to bid farewell to Pope Francis, extensively often known as the “People’s Pope,” at his funeral in St. Peter’s Sq. on Saturday morning. Dignitaries, heads of state and reigning monarchs have been amongst these with reserved seats on the funeral Mass, together with President Trump and first girl Melania Trump.
With delegations from about 130 international locations on the ceremony, the seating chart needed to be deliberate accordingly. Right here’s the way it labored:
How Pope Francis’ funeral seating chart was organized
Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP
The official delegations have been seated in a particular part to the correct of the altar outdoors of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Francis made historical past as the primary pontiff from South America. So it was solely becoming that Argentina — Francis’ native nation — was represented within the entrance row with Argentine President Javier Milei. Milei sat subsequent to his sister, Karina, who serves as basic secretary of the presidency. Subsequent to them was Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who was seated up entrance as a result of the pope is the bishop of Rome.
The seating preparations following Italy have been then primarily based on the French diplomatic alphabetical order. So, for instance, america wouldn’t be “U,” it could be “E” after the French translation “États-Unis.” Based on Reuters, reigning monarchs got precedence over different heads of state within the order.
The place was Donald Trump sitting on the pope’s funeral?
Getty Photographs
Mr. Trump and the primary girl walked into St. Peter’s Sq. and have been directed to their entrance row seats round 4 a.m. ET, forward of the service. They have been seated subsequent to Estonian President Alar Karis, King Felipe VI of Spain and Queen Letizia of Spain. Throughout the aisle, to their proper, was Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, with whom he was seen talking initially of the ceremony.
As many identified on-line, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy was additionally seated within the entrance row – an aisle over from Mr. Trump. Images from the funeral present Zelenskyy was 10 seats away from Mr. Trump. Interactions between the pair have been intently watched ever since their heated Oval Workplace alternate over the struggle in Ukraine in late February.
The White Home revealed on Monday that Mr. Trump and Zelenskyy had a non-public assembly within the Vatican earlier than they took their seats on the funeral service. The Trump administration described it as a “very productive discussion.” Zelenskyy agreed it was a “good meeting” and stated in a assertion on social media that they “discussed a lot.”
Alessandra Benedetti – Corbis/Corbis by way of Getty Photographs
Former President Joe Biden and former first girl Jill Biden additionally went to Rome to pay their respects to Francis. He was sitting 4 rows behind Mr. Trump, the BBC studies.
Right here have been another notable leaders in attendance:
- Britain’s Prince William
- U.Okay. Prime Minister Keir Starmer
- French President Emmanuel Macron
- Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
- Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
- Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
- Eire’s President Michael D. Higgings
- Eire’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin
- United Nations Secretary Common Antonio Guterres
- EU Fee chief Ursula von der Leyen
- European Council President Antonio Costa
- Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia
- Denmark’s Queen Mary
- Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Queen Rania
- Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
- Honduras’ President Xiomara Castro
- Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
- India’s president Droupadi Murmu
- President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera
- President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Felix Tshisekedi
- President of Cape Verde, Jose Maria Neves
contributed to this report.
