Around 200,000 mourners flooded the streets of Rome for Say goodbye to Pope FrancisWidely known as the “Popular Pope”, at his funeral in the Plaza de San Pedro on Saturday morning. The dignitaries, the heads of state and the reigning monarchs were among those with seats reserved in the funeral mass, including President Trump and the First Lady Melania Trump.
With delegations of approximately 130 countries at the ceremony, the seat table had to be planned accordingly. This is how it worked:
How Pope Francis’s funeral seats was organized
Filippo Monteforte / AFP
The official delegations were sitting in a special section to the right of the altar outside the Basilica of San Pedro.
Francis made history As the first Pontiff of South America. Therefore, it was appropriate for Argentina, Francis’s native country to be represented in the front row with Argentine president Javier Milei. Milei sat next to her sister, Karina, who serves as the Secretary General of the Presidency. Next to it was the Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who was sitting in front because the Pope is the bishop of Rome.
The seat packages following Italy were based on the French diplomatic alphabetical order. So, for example, the United States would be “U”, it would be “E” after the “Ethats-Unis” French translation. According to Reuters, the reigning monarchs received priority over other heads of state in the order.
Where was Donald Trump sitting at the Pope’s funeral?
Getty images
Trump and the first lady entered Peter’s square and were aimed at their front row seats around 4 in the morning, ahead of the service. The couple was sitting next to the Estonian President Alar Karis, King Felipe VI or Spain and Queen Letizia of Spain. On the other side of the hall, on his right, was the president of Finland, Alexander Stubb, with whom he was seen speaking at the beginning of the ceremony.
Here are other notable leaders who attended:
- Prince William of Great Britain
- United Kingling Keir Starmer’s Prime Minister
- French president Emmanuel Macron
- Former president of the United States, Joe Biden
- The president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier
- German OLAF Scholz outgoing chancellor
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
- United Nations Secretary Antonio Guterres
- Head of the EU Ursula von der Leyen commission
- President of the European Council Antonio Costa
- The president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
- President of Honduras Xiomara Castro
- The president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
- President Droupadi Murmu of India
- President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Arrange Toujade
- President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi
- President of Cabo Verde, José Maria Neves
Haley Ott contributed to this report.