VATICAN CITY – On Friday, the day before the funeral of the late sacred father Pope Francis, heads of state and government, kings and queens, international organizations and spiritual leaders were pouring into Rome and the guest list was being finalised, according to Italian media sources.

  Other than the issue of security, the matter of seating in this particular period of ever-turbulent international relations, was set to be incredibly important, as one wrong placement on the seating chart could lead to an international dispute.  In the front row, of course, will be sovereigns, presidents and prime ministers, with the lower-level delegations further back.

 If we take the example of the funeral of John Paul II in 2005, the alphabetical order of countries in French will be taken into consideration. The first places will be for Pope Bergoglio's Argentina with President Javier Milei, who was expected to arrive in Rome on Friday morning and then despite past friction, next to him could be Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil. 

 The President of the United States, which becomes États-Unis in French, Donald Trump was among the first to announce his attendance with wife Melania on the day of the First Lady's 55th birthday and he could be seated very close to, if not next to, the French President Emmanuel Macron and a safe distance from the Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, who, according to Il Messaggero, has already made it known that he has asked for a meeting with the head of the White House on the side-lines of the ceremony, after the diabolical face-to-face meeting in Washington earlier this year. It is not in fact excluded that Trump could have informal meetings during his brief stop in the Italian capital, even if at the moment there is nothing that has been officially laid out. The European institutions represented by Ursula von der Leyen, Antonio Costa and Roberta Metsola were said to be considering the possibility of bilateral meetings, despite the short time available in the same article by Il Messaggero.

 There will be some notable absences from some world leaders such as Vladimir Putin, who will not be there, given that he is still being pursued by an international arrest warrant for war crimes but he has decided to send the Minister of Culture, Olga Lyubimova to Rome in his place. Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu was also not expected, given that he too is wanted by the International Criminal Court, however, he was also in open conflict with Pope Francis, even after his death, for his position on the war in Gaza. Thus, there will only be the ambassador to the Holy See, Yaron Sideman representing Israel, despite the recent controversy over the deleted condolence posts from diplomatic offices on X. China has also not yet announced its own delegation to attend the funeral, but has accepted the cancellation of the trip by the President of Taiwan, who has been recognized by the Vatican. The United Kingdom will be represented according to tradition by the heir to the throne, Prince William, as well as Prime Minister Keir Starmer who, in the last question time in the House of Commons, paid homage to Francis, calling him "an extraordinary man.”

 The list of people who will be arriving is numerous but the most notable are as follows. For Germany there will be President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz. For Spain there will be King Felipe of Spain and Queen Letizia, accompanied by three ministers but without Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. The Belgian royals, Philip and Mathilde, along with Prime Minister Bart De Wever will be in attendance. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will attend with his wife Silvia and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Crown Prince Haakon of Norway will attend with Princess Mette-Marit. Prince Albert of Monaco and wife Charlene will also be there. The Dutch royals, Willem-Alexander and Maxima,however, had to withdraw due to the coincidence of the date with King's Day, which celebrates the sovereign's birthday. 

 In St. Peter's Square there will also be the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, and from Cairo a high-level delegation from Al-Azhar, the most important Sunni Islamic institution in the world, is expected. It is not excluded that it will be represented by the Grand Imam, Sheikh Ahmed el Tayyeb, who in a message of condolence remembered "our dear friend Pope Francis who dedicated his life to the service of humanity.”

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