The Real Reason Donald Trump Was Placed Where He Was At Pope Francis’ Funeral
Pope Francis’ funeral allegedly offered Donald Trump a “third-tier” seat, but the US president ended up in a different location.
Pope Francis died on April 21 at the age of 88, and his funeral services began earlier today (April 28).
To honor the deceased religious leader, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square. These include world leaders such as US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
However, there has been significant internet controversy over the funeral’s seating arrangement, particularly the location of Trump’s seat.
We expected to assign Trump a ‘third-tier’ seat for the service.
Although the Vatican did not make any official announcements before the event, media outlets stated that it was anticipated that Catholic royalty would be given preference in the front row, followed by non-Catholic royals, such as Prince William.
World leaders and heads of state would follow, although it was said that Trump would probably end up a few rows back because the leaders would be placed in alphabetical order based on their nation’s name in French.
The Holy See press office told MSNBC that Trump would eventually be sitting between the leaders of Finland and Estonia.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, pointed out in a Rome interview with the PA news agency that the seating arrangement also accounts for the complex connections between political leaders and “big egos.”
Trump has already voiced his opinions over funeral seating arrangements; at Queen Elizabeth II’s proceedings, former US President Joe Biden sat in row 14.
Trump said at the time in a post to social media, “No respect. […] If I were president, they wouldn’t have sat me back there – and our Country would be much different than it is right now.”
Despite receiving criticism for his manners early in the proceedings—he was even called a “disgrace to the US”—Trump was able to secure a front-row seat in the end.
The US president arrived wearing a blue suit instead of the customary black clothing, which is considered a sign of respect and sadness.
One Twitter user wrote, “Trump is the only world leader without the respect to wear black at Pope Francis funeral. He’s a disgrace to America and the world. God bless Pope Francis.”
“What is it with Trump that he did not even have the decency to wear a black tie, never mind he wore a blue suit,” a second commented.
A third added, “Look at our tone deaf, idiot President Trump wearing blue at Pope Francis funeral. Not a day goes by that this makeup covered moron doesn’t embarrass us on the world stage.”
