Trump will travel to Rome today to attend Pope Francis’ funeral tomorrow. Former President Joe Biden and former first lady Dr. Jill Biden will also attend the funeral, marking the first time Biden and Trump are in the same location since the inauguration in January.
Former President Biden and former first lady Jill Biden are expected to attend Pope Francis’s funeral in Rome on Saturday, a Biden spokesperson told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister station, on Friday. Biden, who was the country’s second Roman Catholic president after former President Kennedy, met with Pope Francis on numerous occasions after he became the Catholic church’s leader in 2013, including in a private one-on-one visit between the two in 2021 a few months after the former Democratic president took office. “He was unlike any who came before him,” Biden wrote in wrote in a post on the social media platform X just hours after the pope died on Monday. “Above all, he was a Pope for everyone. He was the People’s Pope — a light of faith, hope and love.”
The Vatican is preparing to handle “big egos” as world leaders fly in for the state funeral of Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Westminster has said. Cardinal Vincent Nichols said the ceremony on Saturday would be a “masterpiece of stage management when you consider those state leaders who have high opinions of their importance”. Donald Trump, the US president, is among the leaders set to attend the service, which will be held outside St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday. His Catholic predecessor, Joe Biden, will also be in attendance, according to Il Messaggero, the authoritative Rome daily.
