There are 50 heads of state and government, in addition to ten sovereigns, expected in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis. An opportunity that put the chancelleries in fibrillation to understand, with a very short notice, if more or less informal interviews are possible on the sidelines of the ceremony. Starting with an expected face to face between Donald Trump and Ursula von der Leyen in the midst of the war of duties and divergences on support for Ukraine.
“There will be many leaders, I would like to meet them all, it would be nice”the American president said enthusiastically in view of his first – and unexpected – travel to Europe in the second term in the company of Melania. “Many of them will be there and will want to meet me to talk about trade,” he added. Therefore, a first meeting with the President of the EU Commission, after months of tensions between the two banks of the Atlantic, does not seem excluded, even if not yet in that EU-USA summit format on the question of the duties that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni proposed to the American president in his visit to the White House.
Meanwhile, there could be a first contact between the two leaders, perhaps at Villa Taverna, Saturday, to take an informal tour of horizon. An eventuality that could only be positively accepted by the Italian government, we think in the majority environments, after the diplomatic weaving started by the premier in these days and the meeting with the US President in Washington.
Meloni who at the moment does not have official bilateral pipeline in Rome, even if the possibility of courtesy visits of some leaders, given that over 180 delegations will land in the capital of the Pope’s funeral.
As for Trump, however, it remains difficult to hypothesize interviews in Rome that go beyond informality with Von der Leyen.
“It seems to me complicated to organize an international summit on the occasion of the Pope’s funeral,” reiterated the Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. «Even a bilateral with many themes on the agenda cannot be made quickly and fury. We need a meeting between the EU and the USA more in -depth, “added the vice premier. However, from Brussels it should be noted that even if “the main objective” of the journey of the President of the European Commission are the funeral, the possibility of meeting “Trump is” evaluating. “At the moment there is nothing confirmed” but “if they present themselves opportunities on the sidelines of the funeral then they will obviously be of help”, underlined the spokesperson Paula Pinho.
The American president will arrive late in the evening of Friday and the restart slot would seem open until Saturday night. A fact that could support the possibility of meetings in the afternoon after the pontiff’s funeral. The former president is also expected from the USA Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, in the meantime to be able to meet Trump was able to meet Trump Volodymyr ZelenskyDespite the head of the White House alternate appeals to peace in Vladimir Putin and threatening accusations to the Ukrainian leader, forced to shorten his visit to South Africa from the last Russian bombs plunged on Kiev. It is not clear whether the opportunity will also make a new meeting possible with the “willing”, led by Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmerwhich in the protocol geometry of the Vatican will sit away from the Russian delegation, led by a minor figure such as the Minister of Culture, Olga Lyubimova, a former TV journalist and has been appointed for less than a year.
On the churchyard of Square San Pietro, the bitter enemies Iran and Israel will also find themselves. The first represented by the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guide, Seyed Abbas Saleh Shariati; the second from the ambassador to the Holy See Yaron Sideman That, after the resentful frost of Benyamin Netanyahu against Pope Francis and the storm on the crude posts made to cancel by the government, he assured that “Israel attributes great importance to his condolences and join the Catholic world in mourning for the disappearance of the pontiff”. It is tried again his presence at the funeral on the day of Shabbat.
The outgoing chancellor program is still open Olaf Scholz That, upon the cliff of his mandate, he will accompany the German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier: the head of state does not include bilateral meetings with Italian authorities, but a short visit to the Teutonic Santo Campo a stone’s throw from the Vatican. The first to land in Fiumicino were the delegations of Honduras and Kosovo, led respectively by the presidents Iris Castro Sarmiento and Vjosa Tomorrow Sadriu. In the next few hours it will be the turn of the Argentine Javier Milei and the Brazilian Lula. All EU leaders will also be present, also the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban confirmed his participation together with the President Tamas Nutboard.
The condolences of Netanyahu after 3 days from death
The office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his condolences for the death of Pope Francis, three days after his death in the Vatican city. «The state of Israel expresses its most heartfelt condolences to the Catholic Church and the Catholic community all over the world for the disappearance of Pope Francis. He may rest in peace, “wrote the office on social media. So far only the Israeli president Isaac Herzog has reacted to the death of the pontiff in his country. The Foreign Ministry has published a message of condolence for the disappearance of Francesco, but the message was subsequently deleted. In declarations issued yesterday, sources of the ministry have minimized the cancellation of the message and said that “every day” they are published by mistake of the tweets which are then deleted. “It is not significant,” said the sources about the message, which has been reproduced by several press bodies and published by an account connected to the Ministry. It was written: «Rest in peace, Pope Francis. That your memory is a blessing », together with an image of the pontiff on the western wall of Jerusalem. The same sources reported that Israel will be represented at the Pope’s funeral on Saturday by his ambassador to the Holy See, Yaron Sideman, and underlined the difficulty of mobilizing the Israeli authorities as Shabbat’s ceremony, the Jewish rest day. Pope Francis was a fervent supporter of peace in the world and asked almost daily daily the Israeli offensive in Gaza, even asking that he was investigated as possible genocide.