Trump and Zelenskyy among dignitaries converging on Rome for funeral of
Pope Francis
[April 25, 2025]
By COLLEEN BARRY
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Heads of state and royalty will start converging on
Rome on Friday for the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican’s St.
Peter’s Square, but the group of poor people who will meet his casket in
a small crosstown basilica are more in keeping with Francis’ humble
persona and disdain for pomp.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei are
among the leaders arriving Friday, the last day Argentine pope will lie
in state in St. Peter’s Basilica before his coffin is sealed in the
evening in preparation for his funeral Saturday.
The Vatican said 130 delegations are confirmed, including 50 heads of
state and 10 reigning sovereigns.
Paying respects
Tens of thousands of mourners have waited hours in line to bid farewell
to Francis, who died Monday after suffering a stroke at the age of 88. A
higher-than-expected turnout prompted the Vatican to extend the
basilica's opening hours overnight.
By Friday morning, more than 128,000 people had filed past Francis' open
coffin placed in front of the basilica’s main altar to pay their
respects. Mourners filed past at times praying, at times holding smart
phones aloft — despite instructions not to — for a photo of the late
pontiff laid out in red robes, a bishop's pointed miter and a rosary
entwined in his hands.
St. Peter's Basilica remained open most of the second night, closing for
just a few hours. Mourners began arriving before dawn, and sprinted into
the piazza when security reopened the flows.
Giovanni Guarino drove from Naples with his girlfriend to make their
final farewells to the Francis, moved by his work to help the young and
disadvantaged.
“I hope that his successor follows the footsteps of Francis,” Guarino
said.
The three days of public viewing are scheduled to end at 7 p.m. on
Friday, after which Francis simple wooden coffin will be sealed.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell will preside over the closing and sealing of the
coffin in his role of camerlengo, or interim Vatican administrator. A
white cloth will be placed over the pope's face, and a bag containing
coins minted during his papacy will be put in the coffin along with a
one-page written account of his papacy.
'We will see each other again'
Roman neighbors and retired flight attendants Aurelia Ballarini and
Francesca Codato came to pay respects to Pope Francis on Friday with
very different motivations. Ballarini, 72, was coming to terms with her
grief, and Codato, 78, was seeking forgiveness.
For Ballarini, the pope's death leaves a hole in her life. While only 16
years younger than Francis, she considered him a grandfather figure.
Every morning, she would log on to Facebook for his daily greeting, and
respond “with a couple of words.”
“He gave everything, gave all of himself, up to the end,’’ said
Ballarini. “I spent the last two days crying. I was not well after his
passing — I can’t even say the word. For me he flew away. One day, we
will see each other again.
Codato said she feels tremendous guilt toward Francis, having forsaken
him out of devotion to one of his predecessors, St. John Paul II. When
Francis became pope “he was an outsider to me.”
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People line up to pay their respects to Pope Francis lying in state,
inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Friday, April 25, 2025.
(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
“I feel guilty, because through videos I have seen in these days, I
have understood he was a man of enormous humanity, close to the
simple people," she said. "So I came to ask forgiveness, because I
feel guilty towards him, like a worm.”
Cardinals ‘are in discussions’
The work of the conclave to choose a new pope won’t start until at
least May 5, after nine days of public mourning.
Cardinals have been also been arriving in Rome, with 113 meeting
Thursday morning to discuss church business. They will meet again
Friday before taking a break for the weekend.
Cardinal François-Xavier Bustillo, who hosted Pope Francis during
his last papal trip, to Corsica, last year, remembered Francis as “a
free man” who "humanized the church without desacralizing it.”
He describe the atmosphere inside the meetings as “good,” but said
they were not yet "at the point of decisions; we are in
discussions.''
Papal burial
In keeping with Francis’ embrace of the marginalized, the Vatican
said a group of poor and needy people will meet the pope’s coffin to
pay homage to him when it arrives at St. Mary Major basilica for
burial on Saturday. It has already become a point of pilgrimage.
The tomb is being prepared behind a wooden barrier within the
basilica that he chose to be near an icon of the Madonna that he
revered and often prayed before.
Photos released by the Vatican on Friday show the marble tombstone
flat against the pavement, with the simple engraving in Latin that
he requested in his last testament: “Franciscus”
Royals and leaders
Trump, who is traveling with first lady Melania Trump, is scheduled
to arrive Friday, after Francis’ coffin has been sealed.
Among the other foreign dignitaries confirmed for the papal funeral
are:
— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena
Zelenska
— French President Emmanuel Macron
— British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
— Prince William
— Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia
— Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
— Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
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