Full List: From Donald Trump to Prince William, World Leaders to attend Pope Francis’ funeral
- Posted on
- Comment
World leaders from all around the globe are scheduled to attend Pope Francis’s funeral at St. Peter’s Square on Saturday. Several heads of state, royals and top officials are set to mark their presence at the gathering in Vatican city at 10 AM local time.The diplomatic fair that draws the who’s who of the world serves as a ripe environment for impromptu diplomacy. The last such event was held in 2005 at the funeral of Pope John Paul II which was termed as the “diplomatic event of the year” by the Centre of Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California.
The gathering is slated to house leaders from various nations including India, UK, USA, Brazil among others.
Marking India’s representation at the gathering, President Droupadi Murmu will be visiting Vatican city to attend the state funeral and pay her respects.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Prince William will be attending the funeral to pay their tributes.
Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will also be present at the gathering. The south-american nation possesses the largest Catholic population and had also declared a seven day mourning following the pope’s death.
US President Donald Trump will be conducting his first foreign trip since he commenced his second term by attending the funeral.
The Philippines that has over 80 percent of its population as Catholic will also have attendance by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Other notable figures include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UN Security General Antonio Guterres and several European heads of state.
Who all will not attend?
The Kremlin has confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the funeral. He had sent a message to the Interim Chief of the Catholic Church paying his tributes to the deceased figure.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will skip the gathering with the nation’s ambassador Yaron Sideman being present instead.
-MSN
ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson
akcoomson@yahoo.com An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.
View all posts by: Nana Kwesi Coomson
(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)