There were rumors that Donald Trump would be given a “third-tier” seat at Pope Francis’ funeral, but it turns out he was placed somewhere else.
Earlier today (April 28), the funeral for Pope Francis began, following his passing at the age of 88 on April 21.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City to honor the late Pope. Among those attending were world leaders like US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
However, the seating arrangement — especially where Trump was placed — has sparked quite a bit of buzz online.
Trump was expected to be given a “third-tier” seat at the service.
Although the Vatican didn’t share official seating plans ahead of time, reports said that Catholic royals would be placed in the front row, followed by non-Catholic royals like Prince William.
After them would come world leaders and heads of state. Since the seating was organized in alphabetical order based on the country names in French, it was likely that Trump would be a few rows back.
According to MSNBC, the Holy See’s press office said Trump would probably be seated between the leaders of Estonia and Finland.
However, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, explained in an interview with the PA news agency in Rome that the seating plan also had to deal with difficult relationships between political leaders and “big egos.”
Trump has complained about seating arrangements at funerals before — when Queen Elizabeth II passed away, former US President Joe Biden was seated in row 14.
At the time, Trump posted on 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.”
In the end, despite earlier criticism over his behavior and even being called a “disgrace to the US,” Trump still ended up with a seat in the front row.
The President of the United States showed up wearing a blue suit, instead of the traditional black outfit that’s usually worn as a sign of mourning and respect.
One person on Twitter said: “Trump 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.”
Another commented: “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 third person 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.”