ROME – World leaders paid tribute Saturday to former Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who died on Friday at age 98. The state funeral of the former head of state and Communist party leader was to be held Tuesday, the Quirinal Palace said.

 Napolitano died at the private Salvator Mundi clinic in Rome and his body was to be laid out at Palazzo Madama, the building housing the Senate, for Italians to pay their last respects to him.  The day of his funeral Tuesday was designated as a day of national mourning.

 Napolitano’s first seven year term as president started in 2006. While in theory the head of state has a largely ceremonial role, in practice he appointed a series of non elected prime ministers, earning the nickname “Re Giorgio” (King George).

Among those paying tribute to the elegant, reform-minded statesman was Pope Francis who recalled that Napolitano “was always in search of the common good,” while the current president, Sergio Mattarella praised his predecessor as a “faithful interpreter of the Constitution.”

 jp