World

World Leaders Present As Catholics Lay Pope Francis to Rest in Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica

Published

9 months ago

April 26, 2025

Eric

Hundreds of thousands of mourners and world leaders including US President Donald Trump packed St Peter’s Square on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis, “pope among the people” and the Catholic Church’s first Latin American leader.

Some waited overnight to get a seat in the vast square in front of St Peter’s Basilica, with the Vatican reporting some 250,000 people attended, in an outpouring of support for the Argentine pontiff.

More than 50 heads of state were also present at the solemn ceremony, including Trump — who met several world leaders in a corner of the basilica beforehand, notably Ukraine’s Volodomyr Zelensky, in their first face-to-face since their Oval Office clash in February.

The crowds applauded as the pope’s coffin was carried out of the basilica by white gloved pallbearers, accompanied by more than 200 red-robed cardinals, and then again as it was taken back after the approximately two-hour mass.

Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, was “a pope among the people, with an open heart”, who strove for a more compassionate, open-minded Catholic Church, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in his funeral homily.

There was applause again from the masses gathered under bright blue skies as he hailed the pope’s “conviction that the Church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open”.

Francis sought to steer the centuries-old Church into a more inclusive direction during his 12-year papacy, and his death prompted a global outpouring of emotion.

“I’m touched by how many people are here. It’s beautiful to see all these nationalities together,” said Jeremie Metais, 29, from Grenoble, France.

“It’s a bit like the centre of the world today.”

Italian and Vatican authorities mounted a major security operation for the ceremony, with fighter jets on standby and snipers positioned on roofs surrounding the tiny city state.

After the funeral, the pope’s simple wooden coffin was put onto a white popemobile for a slow drive through the streets of Rome to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he will be buried.

The funeral sets off the first of nine days of official Vatican mourning for Francis, who took over following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.

After the mourning, cardinals will gather for the conclave to elect a new pope to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Many of Francis’s reforms angered traditionalists, while his criticism of injustices, from the treatment of migrants to the damage wrought by global warming, riled many world leaders.

Yet the former archbishop of Buenos Aires’s compassion and charisma earned him global affection and respect.

“His gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced persons are countless,” Battista Re said.

He recalled the first trip of Francis’s papacy to Lampedusa, an Italian island that is often the first port of call for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, as well as when the Argentine celebrated mass on the border between Mexico and the US.

Trump’s administration drew the pontiff’s ire for its mass deportation of migrants, but the president has paid tribute to “a good man” who “loved the world”.

Making the first foreign trip of his second term, Trump sat among dozens of leaders from other countries — many of them keen to bend his ear over a trade war he unleashed, among other subjects.

The White House said Saturday that the president had a “very productive” meeting with Zelensky before the funeral, while a second meeting was planned after, the Ukrainian presidency said.

Kyiv published a photo of the encounter, the two men sitting face to face in red and gold chairs in the basilica, as well as another showing Zelensky huddled with Trump, Britain’s Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

In the homily, Battista Re highlighted Francis’s incessant calls for peace, and said he urged “reason and honest negotiation” in efforts to end conflicts raging around the world.

“‘Build bridges, not walls’ was an exhortation he repeated many times,” the cardinal said.

Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden also attended the funeral, alongside UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, and Lebanon’s Joseph Aoun.

Israel — angered by Francis’s criticism of its conduct in Gaza — sent only its Holy See ambassador. China, which does not have formal relations with the Vatican, did not send any representative.

Italian mourners Francesco Morello, 58, said the homily about peace was a “fitting, strong and beautiful message”.

Of the world leaders gathered, Morello noted: “He could not bring them together in life but he managed in death.”

Simple tomb

Francis died of a stroke and heart failure less than a month after he left hospital where he had battled pneumonia for five weeks.

He loved nothing more than being among his flock, taking selfies with the faithful and kissing babies, and made it his mission to visit the peripheries, rather than mainstream centres of Catholicism.

His last public act, the day before his death, was an Easter Sunday blessing of the entire world, ending his papacy as he had begun it — with an appeal to protect the “vulnerable, the marginalised and migrants”.

The Jesuit chose to be named after Saint Francis of Assisi, saying he wanted “a poor Church for the poor”, and eschewed fine robes and the papal palace.

Instead, the Church’s 266th pope lived at a Vatican guesthouse and chose to be interred in his favourite Rome church — the first pontiff to be buried outside the Vatican walls in more than a century.

Catholics around the world held events to watch the proceedings live, including in Buenos Aires, where Francis was born Jorge Bergoglio in the poor neighbourhood of Flores in 1936.

“The pope showed us that there was another way to live the faith,” said Lara Amado, 25, in the Argentine capital.

Francis asked to be put inside a single wooden coffin to be laid in a simple marble tomb, marked only with the inscription “Franciscus”, his name in Latin.

Francis’s admirers credit him with transforming perceptions of the Church and helping revive the faith following decades of clerical sex abuse scandals.

He was considered a radical by some for allowing divorced and remarried believers to receive communion, approving the baptism of transgender believers and blessings for same-sex couples, and refusing to judge gay Catholics.

But he also stuck with some centuries-old dogma, notably holding firm on the Church’s opposition to abortion.

Francis strove for “a Church determined to take care of the problems of people and the great anxieties that tear the contemporary world apart”, Battista Re said.

“A Church capable of bending down to every person, regardless of their beliefs or condition, and healing their wounds.”

USA

US’ll Take Greenland by Any Possible Means, Trump Vows

Published

2 days ago

January 13, 2026

Eric

President Donald Trump vowed on Sunday that the United States would take Greenland “one way or the other,” warning that Russia and China would “take over” if Washington fails to act.

Trump says controlling the mineral-rich Danish territory is crucial for US national security given increased Russian and Chinese military activity in the Arctic.

“If we don’t take Greenland, Russia or China will, and I’m not letting that happen,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, despite neither country laying claim to the vast island.

Trump said he would be open to making a deal with the Danish self-governing territory “but one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”

Denmark and other European allies have voiced shock at Trump’s threats over the island, which plays a strategic role between North America and the Arctic, and where the United States has had a military base since World War II.

A Danish colony until 1953, Greenland gained home rule 26 years later and is contemplating eventually loosening its ties with Denmark.

The vast majority of its population and political parties have said they do not want to be under US control and insist Greenlanders must decide their own future — a viewpoint continuously challenged by Trump.

“Greenland should make the deal, because Greenland does not want to see Russia or China take over,” Trump warned, as he mocked its defenses.

“You know what their defense is, two dog sleds,” he said, while Russia and China have “destroyers and submarines all over the place.”

Denmark’s prime minister warned last week that any US move to take Greenland by force would destroy 80 years of transatlantic security links.

Trump waved off the comment saying: “If it affects NATO, it affects NATO. But you know, (Greenland) need us much more than we need them.”

AFP

World

We’ll Retaliate If You Attack Us, Iran Warns US

Published

3 days ago

January 12, 2026

Eric

Iran has warned the United States against any military action, saying it would retaliate if the U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on threats to intervene as Tehran continues its crackdown on nationwide protests.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issued the warning during a parliamentary session broadcast live on Iranian State television.

Qalibaf praised the country’s military response to the protests and cautioned that both the U.S. military and Israel are considered “legitimate targets” in the event of an attack on Iran.

Referring to Israel as “the occupied territory,” Qalibaf said Iran would not rule out launching a preemptive strike against either country if it perceives a threat.

“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said.

“We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat,” he added.

The warning came amid scenes of heightened tension in the chamber, as hardline lawmakers rushed the dais and chanted, “Death to America!”

Iran has been rocked by widespread protests challenging the country’s theocratic system over the past few weeks, prompting a sustained security crackdown by authorities.

Activists estimated that at least 116 people have died in connection with the demonstrations, while about 2,600 others have been detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Right Activists News Agency. Exact figures remain unclear due to internet shutdowns and disrupted phone services across the country.

Trump has warned that the United States is prepared to act if Iranian authorities kill protesters.

“If Iran (shoots) and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump said earlier this month.

“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready tohelp!!!” he added on his Truth Social platform.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that Trump has been briefed on possible military strike options against Iran but has yet to make a final decision.

World

UK’s Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch Backs Trump on Venezuela Invasion, Maduro’s Removal

Published

1 week ago

January 6, 2026

Eric

United Kingdom’s Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, has said that the United States’ military action to remove Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro was the right decision on moral grounds, even though the legal basis for the operation remains unclear.

Speaking to the BBC, Badenoch said she does not understand the legal justification for United States President Donald Trump’s decision to remove Maduro but described the Venezuelan leader as presiding over a “brutal regime,” adding that she is “glad he’s gone.”

She, however, warned that the operation raised serious concerns about the rules-based international order.

The UK government has so far avoided directly criticising the US action or stating whether it breached international law, instead maintaining that Maduro was an “illegitimate president.”

However, several Labour MPs and opposition parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the SNP, have called on the government to condemn the operation and describe it as illegal.

Badenoch, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, described the US intervention as “extraordinary” but said she understood why it was carried out.

“Where the legal certainty is not yet clear, morally, I do think it was the right thing to do,” she said.

The Conservative leader, who spent part of her childhood in Nigeria before returning to the UK at the age of 16, said her upbringing under military rule shaped her views on authoritarian leadership.

“I grew up under a military dictatorship, so I know what it’s like to have someone like Maduro in charge.”

She also distinguished the situation in Venezuela from President Trump’s comments on Greenland, saying it was right to oppose any US intervention there.

“There is a big difference between democratic states” and the “gangster state in Venezuela”.

“What happens in Greenland is up to Denmark and the people of Greenland,” she added.

Trump has in recent days renewed his threats to annex Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory with a strategic location and rich mineral resources, arguing that the move is necessary for US national security. The UK has issued a joint statement alongside France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Denmark, insisting that decisions concerning Greenland’s future rest solely with Denmark and the people of Greenland.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the government’s stance on Greenland differed from Venezuela because Denmark is a member of NATO and questioning Greenland’s future was not in the UK’s national security interests. He also defended the prime minister’s response to developments in Venezuela, saying it was guided by national interest and concern for the Venezuelan people.

“I appreciate there are others who have been more strident and have been more critical of the United States,” he said.

“The prime minister has a different responsibility, and he is choosing his words carefully and wisely to try and influence how events unfold from here on.”

Critics of the government’s approach, including Labour MP Emily Thornberry, chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, have argued that the US action risks emboldening Russia and China and that the UK should clearly state that the operation breached international law.

In a statement to the House of Commons on Monday evening, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said she had reminded US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of his obligations under international law, while reiterating that it was for the US to set out the legal basis for its actions.

Maduro and his wife were seized in Caracas on Saturday during a US military operation that also included strikes on military bases across the country. They were taken to New York, where they have been charged with weapons and drug-related offences over allegations that they enriched themselves through a violent crime ring smuggling cocaine into the US.

Maduro has long rejected the allegations as a pretext to force him from power, and both he and his wife have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Trump has vowed to “run the country” until a “proper” transition of power takes place, with Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez sworn in as interim president.