Who invited Joe Biden to the pope’s funeral? And who didn’t tell President Trump that Biden was coming until he got to Rome?

Going to the funeral of a pope is the equivalent to the funeral of any head of state. There is a lot of diplomatic niceties that go into who is invited, and where they sit during the service. Donald and Melania Trump arrived in Rome Friday evening for the funeral, as the head of the American delegation. And somehow, Joe and Jill Biden also received an invitation.

Former President Joe Biden, who maintained a close working and personal relationship with Pope Francis dating back to the late pontiff’s visit to the United States in 2015, will attend the papal funeral Saturday in Vatican City, Biden’s office confirmed Friday.

Former first lady Jill Biden will also be traveling with her husband to Italy for the funeral.

Of course Jill is going – there’s no way that Joe can travel without his caretaker. Given Joe’s recent attempt to jump back into the spotlight by giving a speech, one would think that it would be better for the Bidens to stay home and not expose Grandpa Joe to public scrutiny (and the possibility that he might be mistaken for the corpse). But Biden was the second Catholic president, so it is likely that he snagged an invitation on that claim. And there are many other elected politicians who will be showing up as part of the American delegation, as well.

Bipartisan delegations of House and Senate lawmakers are also heading to Rome to pay their respects.

The House members attending the funeral include Republican Reps. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, French Hill of Arkansas, Ann Wagner of Missouri, John Joyce of Pennsylvania, Pete Stauber of Minnesota and Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin as well as Democratic Reps. Nancy Pelosi of California, Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania and Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen of New York.

The senators joining them are Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Mike Rounds of South Dakota in addition to Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois and Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

However, it seems that no one informed President Trump that the Bidens were coming, and he found out from the press on Air Force One while he and the First Lady were en route to Rome.

President Donald Trump said a meeting with Joe Biden in Rome was ‘not high on my list’ as he shrugged off his former rival attending Pope Francis’ funeral.

He and first lady Melania Trump had late-night arrival in Rome ahead of Saturday’s state funeral at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Trump revealed he hadn’t known that Biden and wife Jill Biden would also be at the basilica for the service.

‘Oh he is? I didn’t know,’ he told reporters on Air Force One.

When asked if he would meet with the former president, Trump replied: ‘It’s not high on my list. It’s really not.’

But the president will have some sit downs, including with Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni.

‘I’m going to be meeting with some people,’ Trump said of his trip, ‘and a little bit quickly. Frankly, it’s a little bit disrespectful to have meetings when you’re at the funeral at the pope.’

And depending on how the seating arrangements are done, things could get very awkward, especially if certain people are sitting near each other.

However, like John Paul II’s funeral, foreign leaders are expected to be seated on one side of Pope Francis’ coffin and members of the church on the other. The Telegraph studied previous Vatican funerals to report that royals like Prince William and monarchs from Sweden and Norway would be seated in the front two rows.

World leaders, including Trump and Biden, might have to share seats on the third row.

“For the funeral of John Paul II, Catholic European royalty, such as the King and Queen of Spain and those of Belgium were given priority and seated at the front,” Catherine Pepinster, a former editor of The Tablet and a commentator on the Catholic Church, told The Telegraph.

“Next came the non-Catholic royalty – so Prince Charles, representing his mother, Elizabeth II, along with the Scandinavians and the Dutch. Then came the foreign dignitaries such as the US president, who at the time was George W. Bush,” he added.

Trump and Biden in the same row? Reuters says no, because Biden isn’t currently a head of state. And the distinctions between royalty are apparently being erased for the funeral.

Pride of place goes to Argentina, Francis’ native country, whose president, Javier Milei, will sit in the front row.

Next comes Italy, the country that surrounds the Vatican and which agreed in 1929 to recognise its sovereignty as the world’s smallest state. It gets the second-best seats in the VIP section also because the pope is bishop of Rome and primate of the Catholic bishops of Italy.

That is when the alphabet in French – still considered the language of diplomacy – kicks in for the other delegations. The countries following Italy are ordered according to their names in French and not in their native languages.

So, it is Etats Unis and not United States, Allemagne instead of Deutschland (Germany), and Pays-Bas instead of Nederland (The Netherlands).

Royalty will take precedence. Reigning monarchs — expected to include royalty such as the kings and queens of Spain and Belgium and Prince Albert of Monaco — will be seated in front of other heads of state.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Friday that no distinction would be made between Catholic and non-Catholic royalty for the seating order.

After the royals come the remaining heads of state. Trump, who attracted criticism from Francis because of his immigration policies, will sit ahead of many other leaders because Etats Unis begins with an ‘E’.

Former U.S. President Joe Biden, who has been the target of constant criticism by Trump, is attending the funeral, but will not be part of the official U.S. delegation, a diplomatic source said. This means Biden, a lifelong Catholic, should be sitting further back, with other VIPs.

So maybe the awkward moment won’t be between Trump and Biden, but between Biden and… Pelosi. We all know that both Jill and Joe blame Nancy for stabbing him in the back, and the relationship between them is in tatters. Are the two devout Catholic Democrats going to hang on to some frosty civility during the funeral? Imagine the side eye and the body language if Pelosi is seated anywhere near the Bidens. Eeek. Talk about diplomatic niceties!

In the end, I’m sure everyone will outwardly behave themselves, just as they did at Jimmy Carter’s funeral, where they HAD to sit next to each other. President Trump and the First Lady are planning on leaving Rome and flying back immediately after the funeral – a very quick turnaround for the president’s first international trip of his second term. The congressional delegation is traveling separately, and the Bidens are making their own travel arrangements. Still, all eyes will certainly be on any interactions that Biden has with either Trump, or Pelosi – and given that the Bidens have showed up late for big events before, who knows where they will actually end up sitting.

Featured image: Wikimedia Commons/cropped/adjusted/CC BY-SA 2.0.