VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Minutes earlier than the funeral for Pope Francis started outdoors in St. Peter’s Sq. on Saturday (April 26), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump sat leaning towards one another on solitary chairs within the marbled corridor outdoors the Baptistry Chapel of St. Peter’s Basilica. It was their first assembly since their blowup on the White Home in February, which ended with the Ukrainian chief stalking out.
The late pontiff, a staunch advocate of peace by dialogue, would possible have appreciated the impromptu assembly at his funeral, which some Vatican observers are already calling Francis’ first miracle.
Shortly afterward, Trump and Zelenskyy walked out of the basilica collectively, trailing French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who had promoted the dialog. The big crowd within the sq. applauded and cardinals taking their seats took notice, with some saying that Francis’ legacy of peacemaking will weigh on their minds as they flip to deciding who will grow to be the following pope.
“Pope Francis introduced the ache of not having the ability to obtain peace to the grave,” mentioned Cardinal Ángel Sixto Rossi, archbishop of Córdoba, Argentina, and, like Francis, a Jesuit. “It was Pope Francis’ biggest remorse,” he mentioned.
Sixto mentioned that the cardinals “can have the accountability of following in Francis’ footsteps” and that he hoped the following pope would proceed to advertise the message to “stay the gospel.”
Forward of Saturday’s funeral, Trump posted on TruthSocial that the U.S. and Russia had been very near a deal on ending preventing in Ukraine, however feedback from Zelenskyy go away room for doubt that he’s snug with the current phrases.
The coffin of Pope Francis is carried in entrance of dignitaries, together with President Donald Trump, heart, and French President Emmanuel Macron, second left, throughout Francis’ funeral in St. Peter’s Sq. on the Vatican, April 26, 2025. (AP Photograph/Gregorio Borgia)
The 2 leaders “met privately and had a really productive dialogue,” a White Home spokesman mentioned instantly after the funeral Mass. In a put up on X, Zelenskyy mentioned that they had a “good assembly” the place the 2 leaders “mentioned so much one on one.”
Zelenskyy expressed his hope that the 15-minute encounter may yield a peace deal that might shield Ukrainian lives, guarantee a ceasefire and forestall one other battle. “Very symbolic assembly that has potential to grow to be historic, if we obtain joint outcomes,” he wrote in his X put up.
Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t attend the funeral, sending a consultant as an alternative. With a warrant issued for Putin’s arrest March 17 by the Worldwide Legal Courtroom for allegedly deporting youngsters from Ukraine, he’s susceptible to being detained.
Instantly after the funeral, Zelenskyy had tweeted his farewell and gratitude towards the late pontiff, asking that “the Lord Could hear each honest coronary heart at present!”
As cardinals left the ceremony, the place the celebrant of the Mass, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, recalled the pope’s warnings that “battle at all times leaves the world worse than earlier than,” the prelates mirrored on the importance the Trump-Zelenskyy assembly can have on the conclave electing the following pope.
Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, archbishop of Algiers, who was seated close to Zelenskyy, mentioned he might see the Ukrainian chief lookup anxiously as police drones circled overhead. “In his residence, they imply that bombs might be dropping,” mentioned the archbishop.
He mentioned the the funeral’s spectacle of nationwide leaders coming collectively, “the largest on this planet, subsequent to the smallest on this planet,” alongside migrants, the poor and the unhoused, gave him hope that the assembly between the American and Ukrainian “will convey peace — Pope Francis’ biggest struggle,” he mentioned. As Vesco and his fellow cardinals convene to elect Francis’ successor, he added, he hopes “they may let the Holy Spirit speak to our hearts and elect pope.”
Requested in regards to the assembly between Trump and Zelenskyy, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx mentioned he too was impressed by the truth that so many politicians had been prepared to be current on the funeral and change the signal of peace in the course of the Mass.
“If the church offers an area the place politicians at that degree can encounter one another within the environment of such a Eucharistic celebration, with the message of such a pope, I do hope that that’s an impulse for them to say, ‘Allow us to look ahead, how will we now discover a resolution?’ A simply resolution. However an answer that actually contributes to peace,” he mentioned.
On the upcoming conclave, anticipated to start Could 5 or 6, the cardinals will take into account greater than the geopolitical state of affairs across the globe. On Wednesday, Cardinal Aquilino Bocos Merino, who will participate however not vote on the conclave, having surpassed the age of 80, mentioned, “The cardinals will search the perfect candidate, in accordance with the spirit of the gospel and the wants of the world.”
