Will President Zelensky, Von Der Leyen Hijack Funeral Of Pope Francis? Engage In “Mourning Hustle” To Meet With President Trump? Zelensky Not Wearing Suit Disrespectful To Leader Of 1.4 Billion
Disrupter-In-Chief, President Zelensky, Plans To Refocus Pope Francis Funeral
On Saturday, Will President Zelensky Show Respect To Pope And Where A Suit?
His Primary Objective Is Not To Pay Respects, It Is Meet President Trump And Others.
He Is Again Disrespectful- Not Every Gathering, Every Event, Every Moment Must Be About Him.
He Would Gain More Respect By Showing Restraint, Respect For Another, Particularly For The Spiritual Leader Of 1.4 Billion People.
President Zelensky, Let Pope Francis Have His Moment, Uninterrupted - He Earned It.
Don’t Hijack Funeral.
Avoid The Funeral Hustle.
After Late Evening Arrival, President Trump On The Ground In Italy For 3 Hours 20 Minutes
On Saturday, 26 April 2025, Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy (2022- ), will seek to replicate and then add to the Saturday, 7 December 2024, accomplishment of Emmanuel Macron, President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra (2017-2027).
At the reopening ceremony of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, President Macron coordinated a meeting at the Élysée Palace by Donald Trump, then president-elect of the United States, with Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (2019-2024; term extended due to imposition of martial law in 2022).
Prime Minister Meloni will seek to replicate the Trump-Zelensky meeting at Palazzo Chigi in Rome, Italy.
In addition, Prime Minister Meloni will seek to coordinate a meeting, but be satisfied with a public greeting, by Dr. Ursula von der Leyen, President of European Commission (EC) since 2019 (reappointed in 2024 to a second five-year term), and Donald Trump, now 47th President of the United States (2025-2029).
This is an optic that Dr. von der Leyen is desperate to obtain as thus far the Trump-Vance Administration has shown no inclination to engage with the President of the European Commission. Preferring to engage directly with some of the twenty-seven heads of state and heads of government who comprise the European Union (EU).
Politico (25 April 2025): “Both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are hoping for a chance to talk to Trump on the margins of Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome on Saturday- though both Brussels and Kyiv acknowledge that nothing is currently on the books. As a Commission spokesperson put it, any opportunities “will be seized.””
“Yes, I do. I have a lot of meetings set up… I got every leader in the world, which tells you that we have a good product. It's called the United States of America…. We have a couple of people coming. We’ll announce it probably this evening, and tomorrow. The First Lady's going, and some people are coming with me from staff, but we'll have a number of people going to be I'm sure it's going to be a beautiful ceremony.” Donald Trump, President of the United States (remarks prior to departure for Italy)
UPDATE: “I’m going to be meeting with some people in Rome, yes, including the prime minister of Italy … And a little bit quickly, and frankly it’s a little disrespectful to have meetings when you’re at the funeral of a pope, they say. So, but I’ll be talking to people, I’ll be seeing a lot of people… I just thought it was out of respect” but also “I won the Catholic vote. We did well with the Catholic vote, and our relationship is very good, so therefore I think it’s appropriate.” Donald Trump, President of the United States (remarks on Air Force One en route to Italy)
President Zelensky this week confirmed his true intentions for attending the funeral of Pope Francis are to seek a meeting with President Trump and to meet with other heads of state and heads of government.
“Yes, I would like to, I am ready. We are always ready to meet with our partners from the United States… We will also take part in the farewell ceremony for Pope Francis. In addition, I will have an important separate meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.” Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine
“Any number of meetings at various levels is entirely possible,” Andrii Yurash, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See
For President Zelensky and Ambassador Yurash, the funeral for Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of approximately 1.4 billion globally, is simply a means to an end. An inconvenient, but necessary passage to obtain the primary objective. That is quite callous.
Perhaps, President Zelensky will wear a suit in a demonstration of respect that Pope Francis is certainly due.
