About 250,000 people in mourning flooded the streets of Rome to Offer farewell to Pope FrancisWidely known as the “poppe of the people”, during his funeral from Place Saint-Pierre on Saturday morning. The dignitaries, the heads of state and the ruling monarchs were one of those who have seats reserved for the funeral mass, notably President Trump and the first lady Melania Trump.
With delegations of around 130 countries during the ceremony, the seats table had to be planned accordingly. Here’s how it worked:
How the Pope Francis funerary seats were organized
Filippo Monteforte / AFP
The official delegations were seated in a special section to the right of the altar outside the Saint-Pierre basilica.
Francis made history As the first pontiff in South America. It was therefore appropriate that Argentina – the native country of Francis – be represented in the front row with the Argentinian president Javier Milei. Milei was sitting next to her sister, Karina, who is secretary general of the presidency. Next to them was Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who was sitting at the front because the Pope is the bishop of Rome.
The seats according to Italy were then based on French diplomatic alphabetical order. Thus, for example, the United States would not be “U”, it would be “e” after the French translation “United States”. According to ReutersThe reigning monarchs were priority over the other heads of state in order.
Where did Donald Trump sit at the pope’s funeral?
Getty images
Mr. Trump and the first lady entered the Saint-Pierre square and were directed to their seats in the front row around 4 am, before the service. They were sitting next to the Estonian President Alar Karis, King Felipe VI of Spain and the Queen Letizia of Spain. On the other side of the aisle, on their right, was Finnish president Alexander Stubb, with whom he was seen talking at the start of the ceremony.
As many highlighted online, the president of Ukraine, Zelenskyy, was also seated in the front row – a driveway by Mr. Trump. The funeral photos show that Zelenskyy was 10 seats from Mr. Trump. The interactions between the pair have been monitored closely since their Heated oval offices exchange During the war in Ukraine at the end of February.
The White House revealed on Monday that Mr. Trump and Zelenskyy had a private meeting at the Vatican before taking place at the funeral. The Trump administration described it as a “very productive discussion”. Zelenskyy agreed that it was a “good meeting” and said in a Social Network Declaration that they “discussed a lot”.
Alessandra Benedetti – Corbis / Corbis via Getty Images
Former president Joe Biden and the former first lady Jill Biden went to Rome To pay tribute to Francis. He was sitting on four rows behind Mr. Trump, the BBC reports.
Here are some other notable leaders present:
- British prince William
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
- French president Emmanuel Macron
- German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
- Outgoing German chancellor Olaf Scholz
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
- Irish President Michael D. Higgings
- Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin
- The Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres
- The head of the EU Ursula von der Leyen committee
- President of the European Council Antonio Costa
- Swedish king Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia
- Queen Mary of Denmark
- The king of Jordan Abdullah II and Queen Rania
- The president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,
- The president of Honduras Xiomara Castro
- The President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
- The president of India Droupadi Murmu
- President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera
- President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi
- President of Cape Verde, Jose Maria Neves
contributed to this report.