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Reeling in the Tears
From Bush to Berlusconi and Mugabe to McAleese, the famous faces at John Paul II's 2005 funeral
It was reputed at the time to be one of the largest gatherings of heads of state in history.
TODAY’S FUNERAL OF Pope Francis is likely to be the largest gathering of world leaders and royalty in one place for many years.
The Vatican has said at least 130 foreign delegations had confirmed their attendance, this includes around 50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs.
It’s a line-up that will be rarely matched, with the funeral of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 perhaps the only other recent event with such a status.
Before that, the funeral of Pope John Paul II on 8 April 2005 is the last time there was such a distinguished congregation.
That was reputed at the time to be one of the largest gatherings of heads of state in history, with four kings and five queens in attendance along with at least 70 presidents and prime ministers.
Three US presidents were in place for John Paul II’s funeral, then President George W Bush was joined by his predecessor Bill Clinton as well as George Bush Snr.
On this occasion, President Donald Trump is travelling to Rome with his wife Melania, with his predecessor Joe Biden also expected to be in attendance.
When such a gathering takes place in front of the world’s press, the interactions between the dignitaries is always scrutinised, even 20 years after the fact.
Much like today when Ireland will be represented by the President Higgins and his wife Sabina, as well as Taoiseach and Tánaiste, for John Paul II’s funeral President Mary McAleese was present alongside her husband Dr Martin McAleese, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Tanaiste Mary Harney and then Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny.
McAleese was seated near to then Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2005, with Assad only last year overthrown after years of brutal dictatorial rule.
Assad is now in exile in Russia, with Vladimir Putin’s regime one of the few nations that maintained relations with Assad.
On the subject of Putin, it was confirmed this week that Russia’s little-known culture minister Olga Lyubimova would be attending Pope Francis’s funeral on behalf of Russia.
There remains an ICC international arrest warrant for Putin for alleged forced deportation of Ukrainian children. However, Putin did not attend John Paul II’s funeral either despite having met with the pontiff in Rome in 2003.
In terms of British attendees, it has been confirmed that William, the Prince of Wales, is to attend the funeral of Pope Francis on behalf of his father King Charles III.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney will also be in attendance today.
The protocol matches that which was followed in 2005, when Charles, then Prince of Wales, attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II on behalf of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.
On that occasion, Charles was forced to postpone his wedding to Camilla, now Queen Camilla, by 24 hours in order to attend the funeral.
At the funeral, Charles was seated alongside Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, who died in 2017.
One of the features of Pope John Paul II’s funeral that turned out to be significant was that the three-hour service was conducted by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals.
That position also traditionally presides over the papal conclave to elect the next pope.
Ratzinger of course went on to be chosen by the conclave to be John Paul II’s successor 11 days after the funeral, when he became Pope Benedict XVI.
The current dean of the College of Cardinals is Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, however the 91-year-old is too old to take part in the conclave, with that task falling to Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, who is seen among the favourites to succeed Pope Francis.
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