Over 400,000 people attended the mourning ceremony for Pope Francis in and around “St. Peter”s Square in the Vatican and along the route of the subsequent funeral cortege, with which the coffin with the Pope's body was transported from the Vatican to the Roman basilica “Santa Maria Maggiore“, where he will be buried in a private ceremony, ANSA and Agence France-Presse summarize, referring to a Vatican statement, BTA reported.
The funeral ceremony in the Vatican lasted about an hour and a half, and was attended by dozens of foreign leaders and accompanying delegations, as well as hundreds of clergy.
The Ukrainian presidency confirmed that after the funeral ceremony for Pope Francis, there was no second meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump, as previously announced, world agencies reported.
“There was no second meeting. The presidents had a very busy agenda,“ said the spokesman for the Ukrainian presidency, Serhiy Nikiforov. Meanwhile, Trump has already left Rome. Earlier today, however, the two leaders met for 15 minutes before the funeral ceremony for Pope Francis, BTA reports.
“US President Donald Trump had a very productive conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican today before the start of the funeral ceremony for Pope Francis“, White House Communications Director Stephen Chung later explained.
The meeting then evolved into a short four-way format - Trump, Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The French presidency described it as positive.
Zelensky, in turn, said that his meeting today in the Vatican with his American counterpart could prove historic if the peaceful end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, which they discussed, is achieved.
"Good meeting. "We managed to discuss a lot of things in private. We hope for a result of all the things that were discussed," Zelensky wrote in a post on Telegram.
According to him, these topics included "the protection of the lives of our people. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace that will prevent the re-outbreak of war."
"This was a very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!", Zelensky added.
This was Trump's first meeting with Zelensky since the two clashed in the Oval Office of the White House in late February.
The two sides are also negotiating a deal for Ukrainian minerals, in particular for Ukrainian rare earth elements.
The two leaders met a day after Trump's special envoy, Stephen Witkoff, met for the fourth time in as many weeks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow yesterday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
The meeting between Trump and Zelensky also came amid reports in American media that, according to the American peace plan, Crimea would remain under Russian control. Yesterday, Zelensky stated that his country would not change its opinion about Crimea being Ukrainian.
Yesterday, at one point, Zelensky even hinted that he might not come to the Pope's funeral because of important military meetings in Ukraine that he was supposed to attend.
At the same time, while Trump and Zelensky met today, news came from Moscow that Russian forces had regained full control of the Russian Kursk region with the help of North Korean military personnel. However, Ukrainian forces deny this.
The funeral ceremony for Pope Francis today became an occasion for various meetings on its sidelines.
Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met and agreed on another meeting between them, without specifying a specific date.
And after the funeral ceremony, Zelensky held a one-on-one meeting with the President of France - Macron. A similar meeting between Zelensky and Starmer followed.
A key moment of the ceremony was the speech delivered by the head of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, dedicated to the life and work of Pope Francis. The cardinal recalled that Pope Francis was a pope of the people, a shepherd who knew how to communicate with "the least among us", adopting an informal, spontaneous style, the Associated Press reported. Cardinal Re emphasized that the pope was "among those who opened their hearts to everyone," the world agencies added. He recalled that the last memory that many people will keep of Francis is the one in which he gives a blessing on Easter, which turned out to be his last. After that, the pope greeted the faithful from the popemobile in the same square where the funeral mass for him is being celebrated today, the cardinal recalled. Giovanni Battista Re also reminded of the Pope's support for refugees and migrants. "Pope Francis' gestures and appeals in support of refugees and displaced people were countless", the cardinal stressed, to the applause of the crowd, in his homily at the funeral of the Argentine Jesuit, reported Agence France-Presse.
"His insistence on working for the poor was also constant", the cardinal added, stressing that it was "significant" that Pope Francis' first trip was to the Italian island of Lampedusa, which has become a symbol of the migration tragedy and the thousands of migrants who have drowned at sea.
"The Pope did not stop making appeals for peace, calling for "reason and honest negotiations to find possible solutions", the cardinal also recalled.
In his homily, the cardinal recalled that Pope Francis immediately marked with the strong his personality the governance of the Church, having established direct contacts with individuals and with peoples, having demonstrated a desire to be close to everyone, having paid special attention to people who were in difficulty, having spared no effort, especially for those who were excluded from the rest and defenseless, ANSA reported.