Trump to Attend Funeral for Pope Francis in Rome

The president offered condolences to those affected by the pope’s death.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during the Easter Egg Roll event at the White House in Washington on April 21, 2025. Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump is planning on attending Pope Francis’s funeral with First Lady Melania Trump in Rome in the coming days, he announced on April 21 on his Truth Social platform. 

“We look forward to being there,” Trump wrote. 

The president earlier ordered flags to be flown at half-staff to honor the pope and offered condolences to Catholics around the world following the pope’s passing at age 88 from a cerebral stroke and cardiac arrest in the early morning hours on Monday. 

“He’s a very good man who loved the world, and he especially loved people that were having a hard time, and that’s good with me,” Trump told reporters during the White House Easter Egg Roll celebration on Monday. 

When asked at the time if he planned on attending the funeral, Trump said he was headed to a briefing to verify his travel schedule following the event on the South Lawn.

The trip to Italy will mark the president’s first international excursion since taking office for a second term. His first scheduled appearance out of the country was a visit to Saudi Arabia planned for the second week of May.

The late pontiff’s funeral will be held in St. Peter’s Square in Rome on Saturday before his burial at the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

The site was laid out in the pope’s last will and testament, published by the Vatican on Monday.

“I wish my final earthly journey to end precisely in this ancient Marian sanctuary,” Francis wrote.

He requested a tomb inscribed with “Franciscus” situated within the basilica.

The religious leader also used his testament to thank well-wishers and offer words of peace.

“May the Lord grant a fitting reward to all those who have loved me and who continue to pray for me,” Francis wrote. “The suffering that has marked the final part of my life, I offer to the Lord, for peace in the world and for fraternity among peoples.”

Pope Francis’s family joined his physician, Dr. Andrew Arcangeli, and other Vatican officials for a rosary ceremony and to oversee the declaration of death.

Francis succumbed to illness weeks after being hospitalized for 38 days with double pneumonia.

The pope’s body will head to St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for a public viewing set for April 23.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell—Camerlengo for the Catholic Church and thus responsible for managing the ceremonies and funeral—is expected to release more details about the plans in the coming hours.