What Not to Do at a Pope’s Funeral
Over the last 100 years, the world has witnessed the funerals of only seven popes — six who died in office, plus Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013 and died in 2022. Like the funerals of royalty and high-ranking politicians, the funeral proceedings for the head of the Roman Catholic Church are grand, well-planned, days-long events that attract a global audience.
That was certainly true with the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on April 20, 2025 and was laid to rest on Saturday, April 26. An estimated 250,000 mourners paid their respects to the Pope as his body lay in state for three days in St. Peter’s Basilica. Additionally, about 200,000 people attended the funeral services in Rome, while at least 3.8 million watched the proceedings live on television.
Popes’ funerals are meticulously planned well in advance and require the precise coordination of hundreds of people to be flawlessly conducted. But no matter how much authorities try to anticipate potential problems, there’s no way to predict or control how folks will conduct themselves or what unwritten rules they’ll break.
Here are a few of those gaffes — or, a list of what NOT to do at the next pope’s funeral:
Take selfies with the deceased
News outlets used words like “fury” and “outrage” to describe the reaction of many mourners to others who posed for selfies with the body of Pope Francis during his three-day visitation. “While some looked sad in their selfies,” wrote a Newsweek reporter, “at least one Instagrammer posted a photo of herself smiling as the pope lies lifelessly in a coffin just feet away.” Guards eventually listened to the complains and began to enforce their no-phones-at-the-viewing policy.
Wear blue
While modern funeral directors acknowledge that pretty much any color or fashion trend is the “new black” when it comes to funerals, the unspoken tradition of wearing black to a pope’s funeral has not changed. Therefore, various publications have taken issue with the notable figures who wore blue or nontraditional styles to Pope Francis’ funeral.
Not surprisingly, U.S. President Donald Trump has received the most criticism for his blue suit, which stood out among the dozens of black-clad attendees seated around him. However, he wasn’t the only one. Prince William wore a blue ensemble, as did Jordan’s King Abdullah and Indian President Draupadi Murmu. And although Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wore black, his outfit was not considered a “traditional” suit. But for the record, the Vatican does not publish an official dress code for mourners, choosing to leave the “appropriate attire for such a solemn occasion” to the attendees themselves.
Blow it off and send your ambassador instead
The pope’s death and funeral happened to occur during the ongoing horror of the Israeli-Palestinian war in Gaza — a conflict that Pope Francis openly criticized. Even so, global leaders expected Israel to respond to the pope’s death with respect … but they did not. First, Israel’s Foreign Ministry Foreign deleted condolence messages posted online by Israeli missions just after the death was announced. Then, rather than sending a delegation to the funeral, as most other countries did, Israel sent their ambassador to the Vatican. Both actions have landed Israel in a “diplomatic controversy,” according to YNetNews.
The former Israeli ambassador to the Vatican, Raphael Schutz, was not amused. “When a leader of this magnitude passes away, you don’t deviate from diplomatic protocols,” Schutz told YNet. “We should discuss our disagreements with the Vatican directly with the Vatican, not by boycotting the funeral. A funeral that the whole world is attending, from Trump downwards, our absence creates a negative front for us with the entire Catholic Christian world – 1.3 billion people.”
Conduct global political negotiations
An intense conversation between Presidents Zelenskyy and Trump, captured by photographers just moments before Pope Francis’ funeral ceremony began at St. Peter’s Basilica, is one of those that is worth more than a thousand words. And many people, like Mark Knight of Australia’s KidsNews, expressed mixed feelings.
“I was transfixed by that image,” wrote Knight. “These two men, seemingly at loggerheads, now face-to-face in the Vatican. It was obviously God’s work to get these two into the same room! [However, t]here’s a time and a place for tense exchanges between leaders and the funeral of Pope Francis, whose last message to the world was one of brotherhood and peace, was surely not it.”
