April 22, 2025 | 01:38 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The President of the United States, Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, will be heading to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis. This will mark his first foreign visit since assuming office in January.
"We can't wait to be there," Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social on Monday, as reported by Anadolu.
As reported by CBS News, Trump paid tribute to Pope Francis after the Vatican announced on Monday morning that he had passed away at the age of 88.
"Rest in peace, Pope Francis! May God bless him and all who love him!" said Trump.
During the Easter Egg Roll at the White House on Monday, Trump referred to Pope Francis as "a very good man who loves, loves the world, and he especially loves people who are going through hard times, and that's good for me."
Trump also issued a proclamation ordering the flag at the White House and federal and military facilities in the United States and abroad to be flown at half-mast until sunset on the day of the funeral.
Vice President JD Vance, who met with Francis in the Vatican on Easter Sunday, also paid tribute following his death, posting on social media, "I am saddened for the millions of Catholics around the world who love him.
"I was glad to meet him yesterday, even though he was clearly very ill. However, I will always remember him for the sermon he delivered in the early days of COVID. It was truly beautiful," Vance wrote.
The White House posted photos of Trump and Melania meeting Pope Francis in the Vatican in 2017, during the first term of the president's presidency, along with images of Vance and the Pope from their meeting on Sunday.
The 88-year-old pope died from an incurable brain stroke and heart failure on Monday morning, said Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli in his death certificate.
Francis, the first Latin American pope, was born in Buenos Aires in 1936 to Italian immigrant parents. Ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969, he studied in Argentina and then in Germany before rising to the leadership of the Catholic Church in 2013.
The Vatican has not yet released details of his funeral.
In Francis' spiritual will dated June 29, 2022, which was published by the Vatican, there are his wishes and final instructions for his funeral.
"I ask that my body be at rest - awaiting the day of Resurrection - in the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore," where the Pope said he always prayed "at the beginning and end of every Apostolic Journey."
He also wrote that his grave should be in the ground and "plain without any special ornaments."
Pope Francis suffered from various illnesses during his 12-year pontificate, with severe complications in recent weeks after contracting double pneumonia, which kept him hospitalized for over a month in a Rome hospital.
Following his death, tributes from world leaders poured in throughout Monday morning, including from former President Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, who referred to Pope Francis as "one of the most important leaders of our time."
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