Pedro Sánchez, the only leader of a major European country not to attend the Pope’s funeral

Eduardo González The Spanish delegation to Pope Francis' funeral, which will take place this Saturday, will be led by the King and Queen. Vice Presidents María Jesús Montero and Yolanda Díaz, and the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, will represent the Spanish government. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will not attend the ceremony, making him the only leader of any major EU country not to do so. Last Tuesday, the day after the Pope's death, Félix Bolaños told the media that the Spanish delegation would "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." In 2005, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía, then-Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and then-leader of the People's Party (PP), Mariano Rajoy, attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II. On this occasion, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, will also be present. Pope Francis' funeral will take place next Saturday, April 26, in St. Peter's Square in Rome. According to the Holy See, the funeral Mass will be celebrated 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. On behalf of the European Union, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa; and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, will attend. Regarding the EU Member States, the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the outgoing Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz; the King and Queen of Belgium, Philippe and Mathilde; and the Belgian Prime Minister, Bart De Wever; French President Emmanuel Macron (who has cut short a trip to Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean); Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (who has canceled an official trip to Central Asia); Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof; and Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro. Pedro Sánchez therefore becomes the only leader of any of the major EU countries not to attend the Pope's funeral. The reasons for his absence have not been disclosed. In the press conference following the last Council of Ministers, Sánchez declared 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 humanistic view 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. Also attending will be Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok; Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker; Romanian interim President Ilie Bolojan; Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala; Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics; Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda; Estonian President Alar Karis; Polish President Andrzej Duda; Irish President Micheal D. Higgins; and Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin. Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar and Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob; Slovak President Peter Pellegrini; and Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden. Also present on behalf of Europe, but outside the EU, will be Prince William (representing his father, King Charles III) and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (who thanked the Pope for his prayers "for peace in Ukraine and for the Ukrainians"); Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter; Prince Albert II of Monaco; Moldovan President Maia Sandu; and Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani. One of the leaders who will not be present at the funeral is Russian President Vladimir Putin, who mourned the Pope's death, calling him a "great international authority" and an "exceptional person." Regarding the American continent, the funeral will be attended by Argentine President Javier Milei (despite his evident enmity toward the late Pope, whom he even seriously insulted during the presidential election campaign); Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and First Lady Janja Lula da Silva; United States President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump; and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has delegated her representation to her Secretary of the Interior, Rosa Icela Rodríguez.

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