World leaders attend Pope’s funeral mass in Rome

Pope Francis has been remembered as “a pope among the people” during a funeral mass in St Peter’s Square in Rome attended by world leaders including US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Trump and Zelenskyy spoke for a few minutes before the funeral began, according to a senior Ukrainian official. It was the first time they had seen each other in person since their bruising public row in the Oval Office in February.

The pair met privately and had a “very productive discussion”, a White House official said. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak posted on X that the conversation was “constructive”.

Zelenskyy posted on X to thank Trump, calling it a “very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results”.

“We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out,” he wrote.

Applause broke out when Zelenskyy, dressed in the black military-style garb that has become his wartime staple, stepped into St Peter’s Square.

There was also “a positive exchange” between Trump, Zelenskyy, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the Élysée Palace.

Trump shook hands with both European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen before the funeral started, an EU official said. They did not have a substantial conversation.

Neither EU president has met or had a call with Trump since he took office in January. Von der Leyen’s commission negotiates trade policy on behalf of all 27 EU member states. 

In their brief exchange, von der Leyen and Trump agreed to meet, a spokesperson for the commission president said, without providing details.

Scores of other global leaders also attended the mass including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Argentina’s right-wing president Javier Milei and Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In a tribute to the late Pontiff, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, recalled Francis’ commitment to migrants, refugees and the marginalised, and how he “truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time of globalisation”.

Francis was guided by “the conviction that the church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open”, Re said, recalling the late pope’s 47 overseas journeys, including a 2021 trip to Iraq and a visit to the US-Mexico border, where he celebrated mass.

“He often used the image of the church as a field hospital after a battle, in which many were wounded; a church determined to take care of the problems of people . . . a church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds,” the cardinal said.

Royals including the UK’s Prince William and the monarchs of Spain, Sweden and Denmark attended the mass, as well as heads of international institutions such as the UN. Former US president Joe Biden was also present.

The Holy See estimates that about 200,000 people from around the world gathered in St Peter’s Square for the funeral mass, including 220 cardinals and roughly 750 bishops and priests. Some of the faithful waved national flags, while others held banners with messages like “Goodbye Father, teacher and poet” and “may you have the courage to be happy” — the title of one of the late pope’s books.

Applause erupted at the end of the mass when Francis’s coffin was placed upon the open white popemobile for a 5.5km journey through Rome, past monuments including the coliseum, to his final resting place in Santa Maria Maggiore, his favourite of the city’s many churches.

He is the first pope in more than a century to be buried outside the walls of Vatican City.

While the burial was a private ceremony, the church will open later so mourners can pay respects to the deceased pope, who will lie under a marble tombstone inscribed “Franciscus”. 

An estimated 250,000 people passed through St Peter’s Basilica over the three days Francis lay in state before his coffin was sealed on Friday evening, according to the Vatican.

Francis last year simplified the papal death rites. Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of apostolic ceremonies, said at the time that the changes were intended to emphasise that “the funeral of the Roman pontiff is that of a pastor and a disciple of Christ, not a powerful person of this world”.

During his 12 years on the papal throne, Francis sought to make the Catholic church — which has 1.4bn followers worldwide — more compassionate and accessible, while addressing contemporary problems such as climate change.

His death this week at the age of 88 prompted an outpouring of grief from admirers but also dissent from critics, including influential members of Trump’s Maga movement.

The burial marks the start of a nine-day formal mourning period, after which up to 135 eligible cardinals under the age of 80 will be locked in the Vatican for a conclave to select the new pope.

Early frontrunners include Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the late pope’s secretary of state, Cardinal Luis Tagle from the Philippines and Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu.

Re’s funeral homily will be interpreted by many Catholics as spiritual guidance to the cardinal electors on the qualities they should seek in a new pope.

Additional reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi in Rome, Christopher Miller in Kyiv, Leila Abboud in Paris, Henry Foy in Brussels and James Politi in Washington