Farewell to Pope Francis. Trump, Meloni, Macron and Zelensky in the front row to say goodbye to the great Pontiff for the last time.
Cardinal Re, who held the funeral ceremony, recalled Pope Francis as follows: “In the face of wars, Francis incessantly implored peace”.
250 thousand people attended the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square with 166 heads of state and international delegations. The funeral was presided over by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
This was followed by the long funeral procession, part of the rite of the transfer of the body to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. In accordance with the wishes expressed by the Pope, he was buried between the Pauline Chapel and the Sforza Chapel.
Among the participants of the ceremony were President Donald Trump with first lady Melania, Volodimir Zelensky, Emmanuel Macron, Sir Kier Starmer, Prince William, the President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen. With so many world leaders in attendance, Pope Francis’ funeral has become one of the most significant international gatherings of the year.
Among the highlights of the day were:
1. The mini summit between Trump and Zelensky
In fact, following the words of Cardinal Re, peace was one of the most significant themes. Trump and Zelensky had a private conversation, which lasted 15 minutes, inside St. Peter’s Basilica. This meeting was described by White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung as “very productive”
2. Trump and Macron exchanged the sign of peace
3. The second meeting between Trump and Von Der Leyen. On the steps of St. Peter’s Square, President Trump and Von der Leyen exchanged a handshake.
4. Giorgia Meloni behaved like a true statesman by giving space to world leaders to interact
Before the start of the funeral we were able to do an interview with the member of the San Pietro and Paolo association Valerio Scambelluri who was in charge for the surveillance and organization of the funeral ceremony. Valerio told us about some moments of the previous days that he experienced as part of the organization and surveillance.
“The Pope had been ill for a while, everyone knew it, but we did not expect this sudden death,” Valerio said to us in the exclusive interview a few hours before the ceremony, “I believe we are managing it as best we can because a death is never “organized”. The organizational machine was set up to respond to the faithful. Yesterday there were about 150 thousand people to honor the body and today about 200 thousand were expected and there are many of us here to manage surveillance and security.
Each body is responding to the needs, to the orders of its superiors, I believe at its best. Now there are 2 hours left and I think everything is going well. “
I asked if Trump had already arrived and Valerio replied that he had arrived in Rome, but not yet in St. Peter’s and he tells us that the previous day he had seen Emmanuel Macron up close inside St. Peter’s Basilica while he was guarding the body of Pope Francis and a photo was taken that made the rounds of all the world media.
“We must guarantee safety to all the piligrims,” Valerio said and he remembered what it has been like to work all these years close to several Popes. I was lucky enough to be close to John Paul II, Pope Ratzinger and Pope Francis.
“We opened at a quarter to 6AM and there were already many people, it is clear that the participation is very high,” Valerio said, “talking about the presence of the faithful in St. Peter’s Square.”
Thanks to the commitment of Valerio and many people like him, the funeral of the Holy Father was a success from the point of view of organization and security, bringing Rome to a very high international level.
By Ekaterina Shevliakova
