Author: admin

VATICAN CITY: The world’s cardinals will soon gather in Rome to elect a successor with Pope Francis laid to rest.

So what exactly does a pope do?

Below is a rundown of the main responsibilities of the pontiff, the head of the worldwide Catholic Church.

Catholic leader

The word pope comes from the Greek “pappas”, which means “father, patriarch,” which is why believers call him the Holy Father.

He is considered the successor of St Peter, to whom Jesus Christ is said to have entrusted the mission of leading the Church.

Today, this makes the pope the spiritual guide of the estimated 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.

His role is to preserve, interpret and teach the Christian faith, as well as ensuring the unity of the Catholic Church.

Head of State

The pope is head of state and also ruler of the tiny Vatican City state, the smallest in the world at just 44 hectares, located within the Italian capital of Rome.

He exercises absolute power in all areas, from hiring and firing to decisions on the Vatican’s extensive property portfolio, but he delegates much to senior clergy.

The pope has his own diplomats but often meets world leaders at the Vatican, in what are known as private audiences.

Moral guide

The pope has influence well beyond the world’s Catholics, as a pre-eminent moral voice on the global stage.

Many non-Catholic leaders seek an audience at the Vatican, while his pronouncements often carry more weight than those of many elected politicians.

The Vatican has a non-member observer status at the United Nations and is often called in as a neutral party in conflict zones.

Doctrine and Teaching

Through his homilies and written texts, Pope Francis provided guidance on everything from daily life — for example, urging against gossip — to weighty doctrinal issues.

He published several encyclicals, open letters written by the pope to the Church worldwide, covering subjects such as social friendship or climate change.

Other formal texts include apostolic exhortations, which are teaching documents, and the motu proprio, which means “by his own motion” and is a legal change delivered on the pope’s initiative.

During his time as pope, Francis paved the way for the blessing of same-sex couples, restricted the use of the Latin Mass and took measures to combat sexual abuse of children by clergy.

Appointments

The pope approves the appointment of bishops, the approximately 3,000 clergy who lead Catholic dioceses around the world, and also cardinals.

Cardinals, sometimes known as princes of the church, are the most senior clergy and those under the age of 80 can vote in the election of a new pope.

The pope also has the final say in elevating individuals to become “blessed” or a “saint”, following an investigation conducted on the grounds of miracles and virtues.

He has the power to convene Synods — worldwide gatherings that Francis opened to lay people for the first time — to discuss specific issues.

Travel

The pope travels to connect with the faithful around the world.

John Paul II conducted the most apostolic voyages, counting 104 visits abroad in 26 years as pope.

Francis followed with 47, using the visits to shine a spotlight on marginalised communities or issues he wanted to highlight, such as migration or inter-religious dialogue.

Bishop of Rome

As Bishop of Rome, the pope is responsible for administering his diocese. The constraints on his time mean that this is in fact delegated to a Vicar General.

The pope, however, takes part in local events, regularly visiting churches in Rome for celebrations or other symbolic sites in the city.

The death toll from a massive explosion that tore through Iran’s largest commercial port on Saturday and triggered a major blaze, rose to 18 with over 700 injured.

The blast occurred at Shahid Rajaee Port in southern Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of world oil output passes.

Although the cause of the blast was not immediately clear, the port’s customs office said in a statement carried by state TV that it probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot.

The New York Times reported that a person with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters, told the newspaper that what exploded was sodium perchlorate, a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles.

With choking smoke spreading throughout the area, all schools and offices 23 kilometres (14 miles) away in Bandar Abbas, the capital of Hormozgan province, have been ordered closed on Sunday, state TV said, to allow authorities to focus on the emergency effort.

“The intensity of the fire in Shahid Rajaee Port has increased and it is possible that the fire could spread to other areas and containers,” state TV said late Saturday.

Strong winds were complicating efforts to extinguish the flames, a reporter for the broadcaster said.

Shahid Rajaee, more than 1,000 kilometres south of Tehran, is Iran’s most advanced container port, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Images from IRNA showed rescuers and survivors walking along a wide boulevard carpeted with debris after the blast.

Flames engulfed a truck trailer and blood stained the side of a crushed car, while a helicopter dropped water on massive black smoke clouds billowing from behind stacked shipping containers.

Citing local emergency services, state TV reported that “hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centres”, while the provincial blood transfusion centre issued a call for donations.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed sympathy for the victims of the deadly blast, adding he had “issued an order to investigate the situation and the causes”.

He said Momeni would go to the area to look into the incident.

Speaking later at the scene, Momeni told state TV: “All resources from other cities and Tehran have been dispatched… and we hope to be able to extinguish the fire in the coming hours.”

In a video posted to social media, which AFP was not able to verify, a man filming the disaster said “my truck was completely destroyed and my friend died”. A dead body can be seen on the ground.

Containers exploded

Saturday is the start of the working week in Iran, meaning the port would have been busy with employees.

Three Chinese nationals were “lightly injured”, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing its Bandar Abbas consulate.

Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, head of the province’s crisis management authority, told state TV that “the cause of this incident was the explosion of several containers stored in the Shahid Rajaee Port wharf area”.

The explosion was so powerful that it was felt and heard about 50 kilometres away, Fars news agency reported.

“The shockwave was so strong that most of the port buildings were severely damaged,” Tasnim news agency reported.

The United Arab Emirates expressed “solidarity with Iran” over the explosion and Saudi Arabia sent condolences.

The state-owned National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said in a statement carried by local media that the explosion “has no connection to refineries, fuel tanks, distribution complexes or oil pipelines”.

It added that “Bandar Abbas oil facilities are currently operating without interruption”.

The explosion comes several months after one of Iran’s deadliest work accidents in years.

The coal mine blast in September, caused by a gas leak, killed more than 50 people at Tabas in the east of the country.

Saturday’s explosion also came as Iranian and US delegations met in Oman for high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme. Both sides reported progress, with a US official calling it “positive and productive”.

Additional input from Reuters.

MISSISSAUGA: Canadian leaders campaigned in battleground districts Saturday, two days before a vote electrified by US President Donald Trump’s threats, with Prime Minister Mark Carney favoured after assuring voters he can stand up to Washington.

A victory for Carney’s Liberal Party would mark one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history.

On January 6, the day former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his plans to resign, his Liberals trailed the Conservatives by more than 20 points in most polls, and Tory leader Pierre Poilievre looked certain to be Canada’s next premier.

But in the weeks after that, Trump rolled out a barrage of stiff tariff policies while repeatedly talking about absorbing Canada into the United States.

Outraged Canadians have since booed the American anthem at sporting events and cancelled US travel plans.

When Carney replaced the unpopular Trudeau on March 14, he anchored his message squarely on the threats from Trump.

The 60-year-old, who has never held elected office but led the central banks of Canada and Britain, has argued his global financial experience makes him the ideal candidate to defend Canada against Trump’s volatile trade policies.

The prime minister spent the campaign’s second to last day in the crucial province of Ontario, making stops in communities near Toronto that have previously swung between Liberal and Conservative.

“President Trump’s trade war has literally ruptured the global economy and he has betrayed Canada,” Carney told a rally in Mississauga, a city just west of Toronto.

“Canadians are over the shock of that betrayal but we should never forget the lessons,” he added, before directing his attacks at Poilievre, who he argues lacks the experience and economic acumen to lead during a trade war.

“We don’t need chaos, we need calm. We don’t need anger, we need an adult,” Carney said.

He will close the day with a rally in Windsor — the hub of a Canadian auto industry hit hard by Trump’s tariffs.

Frenetic campaigning

The Trump factor and the Trudeau-for-Carney swap unsettled Poilievre, a 45-year-old who has been in parliament for two decades.

But the Conservative leader has tried to keep attention on issues that drove anger towards the Liberals during Trudeau’s decade in power, particularly rising living costs.

He was campaigning in the west coast province of British Columbia on Saturday before an evening rally in Ontario.

“You cannot handle another four years of this,” he told supporters in Delta, British Columbia, reaffirming his message that Carney would bring a continuation of the Trudeau era.

“To the single mother whose fridge, stomach and bank account are all empty and doesn’t know how she is going to feed her kids tomorrow, have hope change is on the way,” he said.

Poilievre has also criticised Trump, but blamed poor economic performance under the Liberals for leaving Canada vulnerable to US protectionism.

Tightening race?

Polls project a Liberal government, but the race has tightened in its final days.

The public broadcaster CBC’s poll aggregator has at various points given the Liberals a seven-to-eight point national lead, but on Saturday it put Liberal support at 42.5 percent, with the Tories at 38.7.

A crucial factor that could help the Liberals is the sagging numbers for the left-wing New Democrats and the separatist Bloc Quebecois.

In past elections, stronger support for those parties has curbed Liberal seat tallies in the key provinces of British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.

A record 7.3 million of Canada’s 28.9 million eligible voters cast early ballots over the Easter weekend, a 25 percent increase compared to 2021.

‘A strange campaign’

For McGill University political scientist Daniel Beland, Conservative efforts to “change the subject of the campaign” away from Trump have largely failed.

Tim Powers, a political analyst, agreed the “strange campaign” full of surprises is not the one the Tories wanted.

They had hoped “there’d be more of a debate around affordability and all of the things that they were scoring points on,” he said, adding Poilievre “envisioned a campaign where Justin Trudeau would be his opponent.”

The winner should be known hours after polls close on Monday.

A huge blast probably caused by the explosion of chemical materials killed at least 14 people and injured more than 700 on Saturday at Iran’s biggest port, Bandar Abbas, Iranian state media reported.

The explosion, which hit the Shahid Rajaee section of the port, occurred as Iran began a third round of nuclear talks with the United States in Oman, but there was no indication of a link between the two events.

Hossein Zafari, a spokesperson for Iran’s crisis management organisation, appeared to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at Shahid Rajaee.

“The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers,” he told Iran’s ILNA news agency.

“Previously, the Director General of Crisis Management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger,” Zafari said.

However, an Iranian government spokesperson said that although chemicals had likely caused the blast, it was not yet possible to determine the exact reason.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered an investigation of the incident and sent to the site his interior minister, who said efforts were still continuing to extinguish the fire and prevent it from spreading to other areas.

Iran’s official news channels aired footage of a vast black and orange cloud of smoke billowing up above the port in the aftermath of the blast, and an office building with its doors blown off and papers and debris strewn around.

Located near the strategic Strait of Hormoz, Shahid Rajaee port is Iran’s biggest container hub, handling a majority of the country’s container goods, according to state media.

The blast shattered windows within a radius of several kilometres and was heard in Qeshm, an island 26 kilometres (16 miles) south of the port, Iranian media said.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency posted footage of injured men lying on the road being tended to amid scenes of confusion.

State TV earlier reported that poor handling of flammable materials was a “contributing factor” to the explosion. A local crisis management official told state TV that the blast took place after several containers stored at the port exploded.

As relief workers tried to put out fires, the port’s customs officials said trucks were being evacuated from the area and that the container yard where the explosion occurred likely contained “dangerous goods and chemicals”. Activities at the port were halted after the blast, officials said.

Deadly incidents

A series of deadly incidents has hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years, with many, like Saturday’s blast, blamed on negligence.

They have included refinery fires, a gas explosion at a coalmine, and an emergency repairs incident at Bandar Abbas killed one worker in 2023.

Iran has blamed some other incidents on its arch-foe Israel, which has carried out attacks on Iranian soil targeting Iran’s nuclear programme in recent years and last year bombed the country’s air defences.

Tehran said Israel was behind a February, 2024 attack on Iranian gas pipelines, while in 2020, computers at Shahid Rajaee were hit by a cyberattack. The Washington Post reported that Israel appeared to be behind that incident as retaliation for an earlier Iranian cyberattack.

Israel has indicated it is nervous about the outcome of U.S.-Iran talks, demanding a full dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear programme. Tehran says the programme is used solely for peaceful purposes, while international observers say it is getting closer to being able to build a bomb.

There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office when asked for comment on whether Israel was in any way involved in Saturday’s explosion.

Oil facilities were not affected by the blast on Saturday, Iranian authorities said.

The National Iranian Petroleum Refining and Distribution Company said in a statement it had “no connection to refineries, fuel tanks, distribution complexes and oil pipelines.”

Pakistan expresses solidarity with Iran

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep sorrow over the blast at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

He offered condolences to the Iranian government and people and prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured.

“Pakistan stands with Iran in this time of grief,” the prime minister said.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran, Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, expressed solidarity with the Iranian people and government in an X post during this trying time.

“I am deeply shocked to learn about the explosion at Shahid-Rajaee port at Bandar Abbas, with reports of hundreds injured. Our thoughts & prayers are with the injured, whom we wish a speedy recovery. Pakistan firmly stands by Iran at this tragic moment,” the ambassador said.

ROME: US President Donald Trump has called for a “different approach” to dealing with Russian leader Vladimir Putin after voicing concerns over missile attacks killing civilians.

After an emotional meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Pope Francis’s funeral, Trump said Putin’s strikes made him doubt his intention for ceasefire and wonder if the Russian leader was “just trapping me along” instead of seeking real peace.

Zelensky said they had discussed a possible unconditional ceasefire with Russia and was “hoping for results” from a “very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic”.

This was the two leaders’ first meeting since a noisy White House clash in February, and after leaving Rome, Trump indicated a new approach to the Russian president.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”

The war cast a shadow over Francis’s funeral. Even as it was taking place, Russia claimed its forces had “fully liberated” the border Kursk region.

Ukraine insisted, however, that its army was still fighting in Kursk, Russian territory which it hopes to use as a bargaining chip in any future peace talks.

‘Very productive discussion’

Trump and Zelensky sat face-to-face, leaning forward in deep discussion in a corner of the basilica, as the pope’s wooden coffin lay in front of the altar before the funeral, according to images released by the Ukrainian presidency.

“We discussed a lot one on one,” Zelensky wrote on X.

“Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out,” he added.

An aide to Zelensky described the meeting as “constructive” and the White House called it “a very productive discussion”.

The US president flew out of Rome immediately after the funeral mass and there were no further talks.

But the two leaders also briefly huddled inside the basilica with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron’s office described the exchanges as “positive” and he later met Zelensky one-on-one.

Britain said Starmer and Zelensky had “discussed positive progress made in recent days”.

‘You can count on’ EU

Zelensky also met Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“Europe will always stand by Ukraine in the pursuit of peace,” von der Leyen told him in a post on X afterwards. “You can count on our support at the negotiating table to achieve a just and lasting peace.”

In St Peter’s Square, Trump rubbed shoulders with dozens of world leaders, many keen to discuss the tariffs he has unleashed.

But it was the meeting with Zelensky that drew the most interest as the US leader pushes for a peace deal.

Both sides had kept the prospects of a meeting vague ahead of the funeral, with Trump saying only it was “possible”.

Tensions had been high since Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelensky in the Oval Office on February 28, calling him ungrateful for the billions of dollars of US military assistance given since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Blame game

Trump, while calling on Putin to stop Russia’s attacks, has recently blamed Zelensky for the war and the continuing bloodshed.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering a conflict that has left tens of thousands dead.

Trump has pushed Zelensky to accept concessions such as acknowledging that Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014, will remain in Russian hands under any deal to stop the conflict.

After arriving in Rome, Trump said there had been progress in talks and pushed for the Russian and Ukrainian leaders to meet.

“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off’,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.

“Most of the major points are agreed to,” he said.

Putin on Friday discussed the “possibility” of direct talks with Ukraine in a meeting with Witkoff, according to a Kremlin aide.

He told Witkoff Russia was ready to resume talks with Ukraine “without preconditions”, the Kremlin added Saturday.

The Putin-Witkoff meeting came just after a top Russian general was killed in a car bomb attack outside Moscow.

Russia’s FSB security services announced on Saturday that a “Ukrainian special services agent” suspected of having planted the bomb had been arrested.

Few meetings

The US president, accompanied by his wife Melania, was making the first foreign trip of his second term.

It put him centre-stage of a major diplomatic gathering with some 50 heads of state, including 10 reigning monarchs, and Britain’s Prince William.

The trip also came after he rattled European allies by imposing sweeping tariffs, although he at least temporarily has backed down from the most severe measures.

The US president shook hands with von der Leyen. The two have agreed to meet, a European Union spokesperson said.

Other leaders also swarmed Trump.

One person he did not meet: his predecessor Joe Biden. Trump has repeatedly disparaged Biden, a devout Catholic attending independently with wife Jill and sitting five rows behind his successor.

Previously, other presidents have taken their predecessors with them on Air Force One to papal funerals.

Official Vatican images showed Trump and Melania stopping by the closed coffin in St Peter’s Basilica.

Trump, in a dark blue suit and tie, and Melania, wearing a black veil, then took front row seats for the service.

Trump had said any meetings would be quick and added: “Frankly it’s a little disrespectful to have meetings when you’re at the funeral of the pope.”

The United States and Iran reported progress in their latest round of nuclear talks on Saturday and agreed to meet again next week as they pursue a deal that could help ease soaring Middle East tensions.

A US official called the talks “positive and productive”, and Iran’s top diplomat said the two sides will study how to narrow their differences on a range of subjects before next week’s fourth round.

The highest-level contact in years between the long-time foes is targeting a new deal that would stop Iran developing nuclear weapons — an objective Tehran denies pursuing — in return for relief from sanctions.

“There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal,” the senior US official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the next talks would be in Europe.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Saturday’s talks, which included technical-level teams for the first time, “serious and businesslike”.

“There are differences both in the major issues and in the details,” he told Iranian state TV.

“Until the next meeting, further studies are to be conducted in the capitals on how to reduce the differences.”

Araghchi added, “I think our progress has been good so far. I am satisfied with the process of the negotiation and its speed. I think it is proceeding well and satisfactorily.”

US President Donald Trump pulled out of an earlier, multilateral agreement during his first term. The United States and Israel have repeatedly threatened Iran with military strikes.

‘Minute details’

US special envoy Steve Witkoff again led the American delegation while Michael Anton, the State Department’s head of policy planning, headed the US expert-level negotiators.

Deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi led Tehran’s technical team, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.

The delegations were in separate rooms and communicated in writing via the hosts, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei and Araghchi said.

“The expert and technical talks… reached the stage of minute details about mutual demands and expectations,” an Iranian state TV reporter said.

Iran’s defence and missile capabilities were not discussed, Baqaei told state TV, while an Iranian negotiator said the talks were “uniquely about sanctions and nuclear questions”, according to Tasnim.

Araghchi had earlier expressed “cautious optimism”, saying this week: “If the sole demand by the US is for Iran to not possess nuclear weapons, this demand is achievable”.

The talks coincided with a major blast at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port that injured hundreds of people and killed at least four, state media reported.

The port’s customs office said it probably resulted from a fire in a storage depot.

Before the talks, Trump, in an interview published Friday by Time magazine, reiterated his threat of military action if a deal fell through.

But he added that he “would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped”. The talks began in Muscat a fortnight ago and continued in Rome last Saturday.

Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’

They are the most senior engagement between the traditional enemies since 2018, when Trump withdrew from the landmark 2015 accord that gave Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

Since returning to the office, Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions against Tehran.

In March, he wrote to Iran´s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, proposing talks, but also warning of potential military action if diplomacy failed.

On Tuesday, Washington announced new sanctions targeting Iran´s oil network — a move Tehran described as “hostile” ahead of Saturday´s talks.

On Wednesday, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi called on Iran to explain tunnels built near its Natanz nuclear site, seen in satellite imagery released by the Institute for Science and International Security.

Iran currently enriches uranium to 60%, far above the 3.67% limit imposed by the 2015 deal but still below the 90% threshold required for weapons-grade material.

Araghchi has previously called Iran´s right to enrich uranium “non-negotiable”.

Tehran last year revived engagement with Britain, France and Germany — also signatories to the 2015 deal — holding several rounds of nuclear talks ahead of the US meetings.

Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged the three European states to decide whether to trigger the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 agreement, which would automatically reinstate UN sanctions on Iran over its non-compliance.

The option to use the mechanism expires in October.

Iran has warned it could withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the snapback is triggered.

World leaders and thousands of Catholic faithful gathered at the Vatican on Saturday to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, who passed away on Monday at the age of 88. The first Latin American pontiff, Francis led the Church for 12 years, during which he advocated for openness and social justice.​

Over 250,000 people visited St Peter’s Basilica to pay their respects ahead of the ceremony, which was attended by delegations from more than 150 countries. The funeral marked the end of a significant papacy that left a lasting global impression.

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky met briefly in St. Peter´s basilica on the sidelines of Pope Francis´s funeral in the Vatican on Saturday in their first encounter since a White House clash as the US president pushes the Ukrainian leader to make a peace deal with Russia.

The two agreed to further talks after the funeral, the Ukraine president´s office said, after Zelensky’s aide described the first meeting as “constructive” and the White House called it “a very productive discussion”.

The Ukrainian presidency released photos of the two men sitting face to face, leaning forward in deep discussion in a corner of the basilica, before the start of the funeral.

Another photo showed the two leaders in a huddle inside the basilica with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, the French president’s hand on Zelensky´s shoulder.

Outside in St Peter’s Square, Trump rubbed shoulders with dozens of world leaders keen to bend his ear on the tariffs he has unleashed and other subjects.

But it was the meeting with Zelensky that drew the most interest as the US leader pushes the Ukrainian to make a peace deal with Russia.

“The meeting took place and is already over,” Zelensky’s spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov told journalists without providing further detail.

White House communications director Steven Cheung also confirmed the meeting occured, calling it “a very productive discussion” and saying more details would follow.

Trump and Zelensky, both accompanied by their wives, sat in the front row of the funeral in the square outside but were separated by nearly a dozen leaders. Zelensky glanced Trump’s way but they were not seen to meet in public.

Both sides had kept the prospects of a meeting vague ahead of the funeral with Trump saying only it was “possible”.

Tensions have been high since Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelensky in the Oval Office on February 28, calling him ungrateful for the billions of dollars of US military assistance given since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Blame game

Trump, while calling on President Vladimir Putin to stop Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, has recently blamed Zelensky for the war and the continuing bloodshed.

Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering a conflict not seen in Europe for decades.

Trump has also pushed Zelensky to accept previously unpalatable concessions such as acknowledging that Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014, will remain in Russian hands under any deal to stop the conflict.

Arriving in Rome late Friday, Trump pushed for the Russian and Ukrainian leaders to meet after what he said was progress in talks.

“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ´finish it off´,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.

“Most of the major points are agreed to,” he said.

Putin on Friday discussed the “possibility” of direct talks with Ukraine in a meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff.

But Zelensky again rejected suggestions that Ukraine give up Crimea.

Witkoff´s meeting with Putin came just after a top Russian general was killed in a car bomb attack outside Moscow.

An increasingly frustrated Trump last week threatened to walk away from peace efforts if he does not see progress towards a ceasefire.

Trump last year promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours if elected president, though he said in a Time magazine interview this week that he was speaking “in jest”.

Few meetings

The US president, accompanied by his wife Melania, is making the first foreign trip of his second term.

It puts him centre-stage for a major diplomatic gathering with some 50 heads of state, including 10 reigning monarchs, and Britain´s Prince William.

Trump´s trip to Italy also comes after he rattled European allies by imposing sweeping tariffs, although he at least temporarily has backed down from the most severe measures.

The US president shook hands with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen. He also greeted French President Emmanuel Macron, a close ally.

Other leaders also swarmed Trump after he arrived.

One person he did not meet: his predecessor Joe Biden. Trump has repeatedly disparaged Biden, a devout Catholic attending independently with wife Jill and sitting five rows behind his successor.

Previously, other presidents have taken their predecessors with them on Air Force One to papal funerals.

Official Vatican images showed Trump and Melania stopping by the closed coffin in St Peter´s Basilica after his motorcade had arrived at the Vatican.

Trump, in a dark blue suit and tie, and Melania, wearing a black veil, then took their seats in the front row for the service.

Trump earlier said any meetings would be quick and added: “Frankly it´s a little disrespectful to have meetings when you´re at the funeral of the pope.”

He is due to fly back to the United States later Saturday after just half a day in the Eternal City.

Countless mourners, several heads of state and royalty gathered at St Peter’s Square on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis, who passed away at the age of 88.

During the ceremony, a cardinal emphasised that Francis’ legacy, marked by his advocacy for migrants, the downtrodden, and the environment should endure beyond his passing.

United States President Donald Trump, who previously disagreed on issues like immigration and climate change, was seated beside the coffin of the pope.

On the other hand, cardinals faced a critical decision about the direction of the papacy — whether to continue Francis’ mission of inclusivity or lean toward the traditionalist views of conservative factions within the Church.

“Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s challenges, Pope Francis truly shared the anxieties, sufferings and hopes of this time,” said Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who presided over the funeral Mass.

The Argentine pope, who had reigned for 12 years, died at the age of 88 on Monday after suffering a stroke.

Applause rang out at the start of the ceremony as 14 white-gloved pallbearers carried the coffin, inlaid with a large cross, out of St Peter’s Basilica and into the square.

Aerial views of the Vatican showed a patchwork of colours – black from the dark garb of the world’s leaders, red from the vestments of some 250 cardinals, purple worn by some of the 400 bishops and white worn by 4,000 attending priests.

Choirs sang Latin hymns and prayers were recited in various languages, including Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese and Arabic, reflecting the global reach of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church.

The faithful hurried to St Peter’s from the early hours while many camped out to try and secure spots at the front of the crowd. The Vatican estimated some 200,000 people had gathered at the start of the service.

“We want to say goodbye because he (was a) living saint, very humble and simple,” said Mary James, a Franciscan nun, who had stayed up overnight to guarantee a good place.

Foreign leaders

Francis’ death ushered in a meticulously planned period of transition, marked by ancient ritual, pomp and mourning. Over the past three days, around 250,000 people filed past his body, which was laid out in an open coffin before the altar of the cavernous, 16th-century basilica.

Before taking their seats, Trump and his wife, Melania, paid their respects to Francis’ coffin in St Peter’s Basilica. The coffin was sealed shut on Friday night.

Among the other heads of state who flew into Rome were the presidents of Argentina, France, Gabon, Germany, the Philippines and Poland, together with the prime ministers of Britain and New Zealand, and many royals, including the king and queen of Spain.

Many people in the square clapped when Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared. Zelensky met Trump while both were in Rome and had a “very productive discussion” a White House official said. Their meeting came at a time when Trump is pushing for a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

Break with tradition

Francis, the first non-European pope for almost 13 centuries, battled to reshape the Roman Catholic Church, siding with the poor and marginalised, while challenging wealthy nations to help migrants and reverse climate change.

“Francis left everyone a wonderful testimony of humanity, of a holy life and of universal fatherhood,” said a formal summary of his papacy, written in Latin, and placed next to his body.

Traditionalists pushed back at his efforts to make the Church more transparent, while his pleas for an end to conflict, divisions and rampant capitalism often fell on deaf ears.

The pope shunned much of the pomp and privilege usually associated with the papacy. He carried that desire for greater simplicity into his funeral, having rewritten the elaborate, book-long funeral rites used previously.

Francis also opted to forego a centuries-old practice of burying popes in three interlocking caskets made of cypress, lead and oak. Instead, he was placed in a single, zinc-lined wooden coffin, which was sealed closed overnight.

In a further break with tradition, he will be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century, preferring Rome’s Basilica of St Mary Major, some 5.5 kilometres (3.4 miles) from St Peter’s, as his final resting place.

His tomb has just “Franciscus”, his name in Latin, inscribed on the top. A reproduction of the simple, iron-plated cross he used to wear around his neck hangs above the marble slab.

The funeral motorcade will drive him through the city for one last time, allowing Romans to say farewell.

Italy mounted one of the biggest security operations the country has seen since the funeral of John Paul II. It closed the airspace over the city and called in extra security forces, with anti-aircraft missiles and patrol boats guarding the event.

As soon as Francis is buried, attention will switch to who might succeed him.

The secretive conclave to elect a successor is unlikely to begin before May 6, and might not start for several days after that, giving cardinals time to hold regular meetings beforehand to sum each other up and assess the state of the Church, beset by financial problems and ideological divisions.

Pope Francis’ sometimes tumultuous papacy will be honoured on Saturday with a funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square, which will be attended by members of the royal family, presidents, prime ministers, and a horde of devoted people.

US President Donald Trump, who has frequently differed with Francis over his very divergent views on immigration, will be among those attending the event from over 150 countries.

The Argentine pope died on Monday, aged 88, following a stroke, ushering in a meticulously planned period of transition for the 1.4-billion member Roman Catholic Church, marked by ancient ritual, pomp and mourning.

Over the past three days, around 250,000 people filed past his body, which had been laid out in a coffin before the altar of the cavernous, 16th century St. Peter’s Basilica.

His casket will be carried through the main doors on Saturday for the outdoor funeral, which starts at 10am (0800 GMT), with massed ranks of foreign dignitaries to one side of the stone colonnade, facing hundreds of red-hated cardinals on opposite banks of seats.

Alongside Trump will be the presidents of Argentina, France, Gabon, Germany, Italy, the Philippines, Poland and Ukraine, together with the prime ministers of Britain and New Zealand, and many European royals.

The Vatican says some 250,000 mourners will fill the vast, cobbled esplanade and main access route to the basilica to follow the ceremony, which will be presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, a 91-year-old Italian prelate.

The first non-European pope for almost 13 centuries, Francis battled to reshape the Roman Catholic Church during his 12-year reign, siding with the poor and marginalised, while challenging wealthy nations to help migrants and reverse climate change.

“Francis left everyone a wonderful testimony of humanity, of a holy life and of universal fatherhood,” said a formal summary of his papacy, written in Latin, and placed next to his body.

Traditionalists pushed back at his efforts to make the Church more transparent, while his pleas for an end to conflict, divisions and rampant capitalism often fell on deaf ears.

Unconventional funeral

The pope shunned much of the pomp and privilege usually associated with the papacy during his reign, and will carry that desire for greater simplicity into his funeral, having re-written the elaborate, book-long funeral rites used previously.

Whereas Pope John Paul II’s funeral in 2005 lasted three hours, the service on Saturday is due to take 90 minutes.

Francis also opted to forego a centuries-old practice of burying popes in three interlocking caskets made of cypress, lead and oak. Instead, he has been placed in a single, zinc-lined wooden coffin, which was sealed closed over night.

In a further break with tradition, he will be the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than a century, preferring Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major, some 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) from St. Peter’s, as his final resting place.

His tomb has just “Franciscus”, his name in Latin, inscribed on the top. A reproduction of the simple, iron-plated cross he used to wear around his neck hangs above the marble slab.

His funeral motorcade will drive him through the city for one last time, allowing Romans to say their farewell.

Italy has closed the airspace over the city and called in extra forces, with anti-aircraft missiles and patrol boats guarding the event in one of the biggest security operations the country has seen since the funeral of John Paul II.

As soon as Francis is buried, attention will switch to who might succeed him.

The secretive conclave to elect a successor is unlikely to begin before May 6, and might not start for several days after that, giving cardinals time to hold regular meetings beforehand to sum each other up and assess the state of the Church, beset by financial problems and ideological divisions.