The funeral of Pope Francis in the Plaza de San Pedro allowed this Saturday to the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to meet with the Ukrainian Volodimir Zelenski, as well as briefly shake the hand to the European Union, amid the misgivings for his tariff check.
The funeral congregated, in addition to 250,000 faithful who crowded the surrounding Vatican, delegations and authorities of more than 140 countries around the planet, among these about fifty heads of state or government and a dozen kings, princes and sovereign.
Therefore, Francisco’s farewell, the Pope who alerted what he called ‘Third World War to Treashes’, became a brief and improvised diplomatic forum dyed, naturally, for mourning.
Funeral summit
The main protagonist was Trump, who decided to travel to Rome to fire this Pope with whom he maintained notable differences, especially in relation to immigration policies. An abyss remembered in the homily of Cardinal Dean, Giovanni Battista Re: Francisco always advocated “building bridges, no walls,” resonated in the square.
Beyond the religious, human and historical value of this funeral, the most repeated question was whether the Republican president would see or greet the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, present in this rite and that since days before he had been requesting a meeting.
The meeting at the end occurred, but private and brief, as confirmed from kyiv. Then, the White House described it as “very productive.”
Then, an Italian medium showed both leaders, confronted in recent times, speaking face to face, very close, sitting in chairs and surrounded by the unmistakable Vatican opulence (with a monsignor who wandered in the background).
And Zelenski’s Cabinet Chief Andriy Yermak, spread another, very striking, with both presidents dialoguing with a serious face and very close.
On the table is the urgent need to end the Russian invasion and the negotiations that Washington tries to open between the Moscow of Vladimir Putin and the resistance of kyiv, but also an agreement on rare earths that, for now, has not been signed.
As soon as he arrived at the Vatican Basilica, the American tycoon paid tribute to the Pontiff’s coffin, accompanied by his first lady, Melania, with a black veiled head.
Hand for Europe
He then went to the Plaza de San Pedro to participate in the funeral rites and, at that time, he ran into the main flat of his allies in the European Union (EU), in the midst of the reciprocal misgivings that has raised his recent tariff pulse.
Although there was no time for prolegomena and greetings, it could see Trump briefly narrowing the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, dressed in mourning.
The US president was sitting in the first row, to the right of Francisco’s coffin, in an order that the Holy See establishes based on the rank of the dignitary and following the alphabetical order of the countries in French.
This rule wanted Trump to have a few meters the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, only separated by a small hole between the banks and by the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb. Then, during the Mass, both G7 leaders gave each other peace.
A short distance, also in the front row, Zelenski was also, this time dressed in a jacket and black shirt (the military clothing he normally saw, for the war that shakes his country, he raised the “ambushed” of February in the Oval Office).
On the other hand, two seats to the left of Melania Trump could see the king of Spain, Felipe VI, and Queen Letizia, who head the Spanish delegation.
Pope Francis, who died last Monday with 88 years, will be fired with this funeral that, in addition to numerous authorities, has gathered at least 140,000 faithful in the Plaza de San Pedro and vatican immediate.
Then, his coffin will be transferred to the Roman Basilica of Santa María la Mayor for his burial, as the Argentine pontiff ordered in life.
With EFE information
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