<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will attend Pope Francis' funeral, which will take place next Saturday, April 26, in St. Peter's Square, Rome, according to sources from the Royal Household and confirmed by the Holy See.</strong></h4> According to the Holy See, Pope Francis' funeral Mass will be celebrated on April 26 in the atrium of St. Peter's Basilica. The funeral liturgy will be presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the Sacred Cathedral College. The coffin will then be transferred to St. Peter's Basilica and, from there, to the Basilica of St. Mary Major for burial. "Several heads of state and government have announced their participation," it added. In addition to the Spanish King and Queen, those already confirmed, according to the Holy See, include the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (along with other European commissioners); the President of the United States, Donald Trump; the President of France, Emmanuel Macron (who has interrupted a trip to Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean); the King and Queen of Belgium, Philippe and Mathilde; the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni (who has also canceled an official trip to Central Asia); the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier; the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz; the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky; the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; the President of Romania, Ilie Bolojan; the Prince of Monaco, Albert II; and even the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, despite his evident enmity towards the late Pontiff, whom he even seriously insulted during the presidential election campaign. It is currently unknown whether Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will participate, but the Minister of Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, told several media outlets on Tuesday that the Spanish delegation "will live up to the affection we profess for Pope Francis and, of course, the institutional respect and cooperation we have always had with the Holy See, which is a sovereign state, and also with the Catholic Church, which is the Church most widely professed by our fellow citizens." In the press conference following the Council of Ministers, Pedro Sánchez declared on Tuesday that Pope Francis was "a friend of Spain and a moral and spiritual role model for millions of people, a leader who advocated for the fight against poverty, for a humanist view of the phenomenon of migration, for mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and against intolerance when it was most needed." "I am convinced that the world will miss his courage and his message, and from Spain we will honor him," he added. In 2005, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía, the then Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and the then leader of the People's Party (PP), Mariano Rajoy, attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II. <h5><strong>The King and Queen's Condolences at the Apostolic Nunciature</strong></h5> On another note, the King and Queen and Queen Sofía traveled to the Apostolic Nunciature in Madrid this Tuesday to express their condolences for the death of Pope Francis. Felipe VI, Letizia, and the Queen Emeritus were received by the Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See in Spain, Bernardito Auza, and later signed the book of condolences opened in memory of the Pontiff. "Our most heartfelt condolences to the unique figure and personality of His Holiness Pope Francis, which transcends his ecclesiastical dimension; and our admiration and respect for his total dedication to the evangelical task until the last breath of his life," wrote the King, and the Queen and Queen Emeritus signed.
