World leaders to attend Pope Francis' funeral: Donald Trump, Melania, Biden, and more on seating chart 

Pope Francis' funeral is scheduled for Saturday, April 26, 2025. It will be held at St. Peter’s Square and will begin at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT). Hundreds and thousands of people are expected to attend.

There will also be 130 foreign delegates, along with world leaders, including the US President Donald Trump and Melania Trump, the former President Joe Biden, 10 reigning monarchs, and other royals.

The seating arrangement is said to be followed per the French alphabetical order. Given the VIPs, world leaders, and the number of people attending the funeral, the Italy police have created complex security operations.

World leaders and the seating arrangement at Pope Francis' funeral

The funeral of Pope Francis is scheduled on April 26, at 10:00 am, and all the guests and dignitaries will be seated around the basilica and the coffin. The funeral will end with prayers for Pope Francis, following which there will be a mourning period called Novemdiales, which will run for nine days.

The seating arrangement is such that the people of Argentia (where the Pope was born) and then the people of Italy (where the Vatican is) will get the top spots. Argentina's president, Javier Milei, will sit in the front row. The next best spot is given to Italy, as the Vatican is in Italy and Pope Francis is the bishop of Rome and primate of the Catholic bishops of Italy.

After Argentina and Italy, the rest of the countries are seated in French alphabetical order. Hence, the United States is listed as États-Unis, and the Netherlands as Pays-Bas.

The royals, including Prince William and the European royals, will be seated in front of the world leaders. The royals, whether catholic or not, will be treated the same in terms of seating, as per the Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

Following the royals, world leaders will be seated. In an interview with the PA News agency in Rome, Cardinal Nichols, who will be taking part in electing the new pope, spoke about the organizers and the details of the funeral arrangements. He said:

''Without a doubt another masterpiece of stage management when you consider those state leaders who have high opinions of their importance.n the past, I’ve seen it here over and over again that the combination of Rome and the Holy See, they actually are geniuses at dealing with these big events.''

He continued:

''I think they’ve been doing it since the emperors ruled Rome – that they know how to deal with big egos. And I think every leader of a nation that comes here on Saturday will go home reasonably content.''

After the funeral, the burial will take place in Santa Maria Maggiore. The Pope had asked his tomb to be simple, in the ground with the inscription 'Franciscus.' The funeral and burial proceedings will be live-streamed and broadcast globally on various platforms.

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