Pope Francis’s Funeral Was Attended by Heads of State From All Over the World

On Saturday, April 26, Pope Francis was laid to rest following an emotional funeral at St. Peter’s Basilica. The event at the Roman Catholic Church was attended by a massive number of people, including not only his followers and religious colleagues, but numerous heads of state from all over the world.

Those gathered at the Vatican’s St Peter’s Square included Prince William, Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump, Joe Biden and wife Jill Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia, Estonia’s President Alar Karis, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, Britain’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Argentina’s President Javier Milei, French President Emmanuel Macron, and many more.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Donald Trump.

The Vatican stated that more than 250,000 people were part of the proceedings, from attendees to those actually walking in the somber ceremony. Another 150,000 people supposedly stood to watch the march from St. Peter’s Square and to the Tiber River. Just as many waited in line to bid farewell to the religious leader as he lay in the Basilica.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in a tribute to Francis that his legacy would be that he was “a pope among the people” who was “also a Pope attentive to the signs of the times and what the Holy Spirit was awakening in the Church.”

“Despite his frailty and suffering towards the end, Pope Francis chose to follow this path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life,” Re continued, adding that he “followed in the footsteps of his Lord, the Good Shepherd.”

In a private ceremony following the public event, Pope Francis was buried at St. Mary Major in a tomb with the simple inscription “Franciscus.”