Vatican City (Weltexpress). The funeral of the first so-called Latin American pope begins. The man who became the 266th Bishop of Rome and thus pope on 13 March 2013, taking the name Francis, was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires on 17 December 1936. He was actually Italian, so he also had Italian citizenship.
The funeral of Pope Francis will be attended by over 160 delegations, including more than 60 heads of state and government and leading representatives of the European Union, according to the Holy See Press Office.
In addition to European heads of state and government, US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Argentine President Javier Milei and Indian President Droupadi Murmu will also attend the funeral ceremony. The Russian Federation will be represented by Culture Minister Olga Ljubimowa.
Pope Francis died on 21 April 2025 at the age of 88 following a stroke. Pope Francis, who became the 266th head of the Catholic Church in 2013 after the resignation of his predecessor Benedict XVI (1927-2022), will be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.
Notes:
With material from TASS.
See also the articles
- Trump wants the new pope to rebuild ‘American-style’ Catholicism by Gerhard Feldbauer
- Doves, crows and BRICS in a cassock – On the pontificate of Pope Francis by Dagmar Henn
in WELTEXPRESS.
