The funeral of Pope Francis will take place at 10am local time on Saturday in the square in front of St Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican has announced.
Donald Trump, the US president, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, are among world leaders who have confirmed that they will attend.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, is also reportedly set to travel to the funeral, but this has yet to be officially confirmed.
However, around an hour after timings for the service were confirmed, Vladimir Putin confirmed that he would not be attending. There is currently an International Criminal Court arrest warrant in place against him over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The gathering of world leaders for such an event as a pope’s funeral can cause some awkwardness.
In 2005, four kings, 28 prime ministers and 53 presidents attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
The then Prince Charles was two seats away from Robert Mugabe, who ignored a European travel ban to attend the funeral.
The pair shook hands, despite two British journalists in Zimbabwe having yet to be acquitted after being arrested for illegally practising journalism without proper accreditation.
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