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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Harriet Sherwood

Pope Francis’s funeral is loaded with potential for diplomatic awkwardness

Prince Charles sitting near Robert Mugabe at the funeral of Pope John Paul II in the Vatican in April 2005.
Prince Charles sitting near Robert Mugabe at the funeral of Pope John Paul II in the Vatican in April 2005. Photograph: Dan Chung/The Guardian

As world leaders head to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, fraught Vatican officials will be poring over logistics in an effort to avoid diplomatic awkwardness.

Should Donald Trump be kept away from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy? Or the French president, Emmanuel Macron, or Brazil’s leftist leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or any Iranians that might appear? There may be relief that Vladimir Putin has said he will not attend, but will everyone expect front row seats?

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