ROME – All eyes on Georgia Meloni as pope's funeral turns Rome into arena for global diplomacy.
Rome will host more than 170 international delegations for Saturday's funeral. While the Vatican will hold the ceremonies on its sovereign territory, the machinery of international protocol outside St. Peter's Square is the responsibility of the Italian government.
With presidents, prime ministers and religious leaders gathered in one place, Meloni uses the opportunity to present herself not just as a mourner but as a statesman: resilient, visible and indispensable.
The government has explicitly ruled out the possibility of official meetings, calling it “bad form,” Corriere della Sera reports, but the funeral still opens the door to informal talks.
Even the press secretary of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, did not rule out “other meetings” behind the scenes.
A quiet chat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, or even the chance to broker the first meeting between US President Donald Trump and the head of the European Commission, could give Meloni exactly what she is looking for: recognition as a mediator in the West.
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A commission spokesman said that if an opportunity arose to confront Trump at the basilica, “it would certainly be taken advantage of.”
Holy calculation
Meloni's public mourning was an opportunity for her to showcase her political persona alongside her moral authority as a pontiff.
“To remember Pope Francis is to talk about a person who meant so much more to me personally,” Meloni said, sharing personal memories of their connection and revealing that the Pope kept her daughter's drawings.
She has presented herself as the heir to his legacy, vowing to follow his “path of peace” and work for a “more just society,” even though her government's hard-line policies on immigration and social justice suggest otherwise.
Francis once declared: “God is with the migrants, not with those who reject them” or “the problem is not solved by tightening laws or militarizing borders” – words that stand in stark contrast to Meloni’s tightening of measures to combat illegal migration and the creation of new detention centers in Albania.
Critics see her recent statements as a deliberate attempt to soften her image on issues where her government has drawn strong backlash, such as poverty and migration.
“Meloni never had a particularly strong relationship with this Pope, in large part because the right never considered Francis to be its main Catholic reference point, given his positions,” said political analyst and LUISS University professor Lorenzo Castellani.
Nevertheless, he added, “she managed to build Italian diplomatic relations around areas of agreement, and genuine mutual sympathy emerged.”
She has demonstrated an exceptional ability to build bridges, fostering surprisingly “solid relationships even with figures her critics would consider unlikely, such as Biden or Ursula von der Leyen,” said Salvatore Vassallo, a political scientist at the University of Bologna and director of the Cattaneo Institute.
“Even Pope Francis, who seemed to have genuine sympathy for her.”
Vassallo also said he saw a possible shift among Catholic voters, who traditionally hold center-left views but are uncomfortable with the Democratic Party of Italy's recent turn to the left.
In contrast, Castellani noted that Meloni's appeal to religious values may have limited electoral impact, suggesting that the real strategic value of the moment lies in improving diplomatic channels, especially between Europe and the United States.
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