List of dignitaries at the funeral of Pope John
This is a list of dignitaries at the funeral of Pope John Paul II. The funeral of Pope John Paul II commenced after the death of the pope on April 2, 2005 in Vatican City. Before official invitations were sent by the College of Cardinals, approximately 200 countries already had expressed interest to send representatives to the funeral of Pope John Paul II, which took place on April 8, 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. That did not exclude other people of any nationality from attaining individual invitations, unrelated to the individual's country's delegation, which could have reached the limit of 5 – as did, for instance, Brazilian former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, whose presence in the funerals had no connection with the Brazilian delegation. In addition to it, 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. They 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.
The gathering of dignitaries made the funeral the largest gatherings of statesmen in history. At the funeral, the dignitaries were seated alphabetically by the French spelling of their countries (this order of listing follows). All countries and organisations were limited to five dignitaries seated for the funeral mass, with the exception for Poland and Italy.
Some of the dignitaries that attended the funeral also attended the installation of Pope Benedict XVI on 24 April.