Map indicating countries that sent official dignitaries at the funeral of Pope John Paul II This is a list of dignitaries at the funeral of Pope John Paul II. After the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2, 2005 in Vatican City, and before official invitations were sent by the College of Cardinals, almost 200 countries expressed interest in sending representatives to the funeral of Pope John Paul II. The funeral took place on April 8, 2005, and was the largest gathering of statesmen in history. Some of the dignitaries later attended the installation of Pope Benedict XVI on April 24, 2005. In order to accommodate all interested parties wishing to receive a seat during the Mass of Requiem, the Holy See limited the number of members in each official diplomatic delegation to only five people, except for the Polish delegation which, being John Paul II's homeland, was allowed ten people, and the delegation from Italy. The limit did not exclude other people of any nationality from attaining individual invitations, unrelated to the individual's country's delegation: for example, the attendance of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, had no connection with the Brazilian delegation. In addition to a country's official delegation, any number of government officials were permitted to attend as pilgrim travellers, remaining outside the basilica during the Mass of Requiem with the general public. For example, the United States delegation included the president and first lady, two former presidents, and the secretary of state, and they all had seats in the basilica during the Mass of Requiem. Dozens of members of the U.S. Congress attended the Mass of Requiem, congregating among the general public outside the basilica. At the funeral, the dignitaries were seated alphabetically according to the French spelling of their country's name and arranged according to diplomatic protocol. [edit] List of official delegations (in French alphabetical order, incomplete) | Country | Flag | Official delegation | Title | | Zimbabwe |  | Robert Mugabe Herbert Murerwa Mr Bimha Mr Chihuri Mary Margaret Muchada | president minister of advanced education secretary to foreign affairs, ambassador personal assistant to the President ambassador | - ^ Commonly known as Taiwan: "China" refers to the Government of the Republic of China (ROC), rather than the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which does not have relations with the Holy See and did not receive any invitations to the funeral. Although the ROC Government resettled on Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War, the Holy See still recognizes the ROC, but not the PRC, as "China". [3]
- ^ The low representation of Monaco is due to the death of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. Monaco's head of state died two days before the funeral of the Pope.
[edit] International organizations [edit] Religious leaders [edit] Eastern Christian Churches - Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
- Karekin II, Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church
- Abune Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
- Mesrob II Mutafyan, Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul and Turkey
- Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens
- Anastasios , Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës, and all Albania
- Jovan, Metropolitan of Zagreb-Ljubljana and All-Italy of the Serbian Orthodox Church
- Kirill, Metropolitan of Smolensk-Kaliningrad (now Patriarch of Moscow), head of the Department of Interchurch relations of the Russian Orthodox Church
- Lavrentije, Bishop of Šabac and Valjevo of the Serbian Orthodox Church
- Leo, Archbishop of Karelia and All Finland
- Seraphim, Bishop of Ottawa, of the Orthodox Church in America
[edit] Protestant Churches [edit] Jewish religious leaders [edit] Unofficial delegations A selection of dignitaries not seated in the section for official national delegations during the funeral: [edit] Brazil Individually invited (by the Holy See): Presidential delegation (invited by the President, but did not seat for Mass of Requiem): [edit] Canada All representing Quebec [edit] Philippines [edit] United States Members of Congress and other dignitaries (not part of the official delegation, thus no VIP treatment): [edit] External links |