Donald Trump was apparently granted a “third-tier” seat for Pope Francis’ funeral, but the US president ended up somewhere else.
Funeral ceremonies for Pope Francis, who passed away on April 21 at the age of 88, started earlier today (April 28).
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City to pay tribute to the departed holy leader. US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer are among these world leaders.
However, the seating arrangement for the funeral—specifically, where Trump’s seat is—has generated a great deal of online criticism.
For the service, we anticipated giving Trump a “third-tier” seat.
Media outlets reported that it was expected that Catholic royalty would be given preference in the front row, followed by non-Catholic royals like Prince William, despite the Vatican’s lack of formal declarations prior to the ceremony.
Heads of state and world leaders would follow, though it was predicted that Trump would likely end up a few rows back because the leaders would be arranged alphabetically according to their country’s French name.
Trump will eventually sit between the leaders of Finland and Estonia, the Holy See press office informed MSNBC.
In an interview with the PA news agency in Rome, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, said that the seating arrangement also takes into consideration the intricate relationships between political leaders and “big egos.”
Trump has previously expressed his views on funeral seating arrangements; former US President Joe Biden sat in row 14 for Queen Elizabeth II’s ceremony.
“No respect,” Trump wrote on social media at the time. […] They wouldn’t have seated me back there if I were president, and things in our nation would be very different from what they are now.
Early in the proceedings, Trump was criticised for his manners—he was even referred to as a “disgrace to the US”—but he managed to get a front-row seat in the end.
Instead of the traditional black attire, which is seen as a gesture of respect and sorrow, the US president appeared in a blue suit.
“Trump is the only world leader who lacks the dignity to wear black to Pope Francis’ funeral,” one Twitter user said. He is a disgrace to the world and to America. Pope Francis, may you be blessed.
Another person remarked, “What is it with Trump that he didn’t even have the decency to wear a black tie, even though he wore a blue suit?”
“Look at our tone deaf, idiot President Trump wearing blue at Pope Francis’ funeral,” a third person remarked. We are constantly embarrassed on the international scene by this makeup-covered idiot.