Monarchs, Presidents to Join Faithful at Pope Funeral Wed Apr 6, 5:46 PM ET
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Kings, queens and heads of state and government will join pilgrims for the funeral of Pope John Paul on Friday in what is expected to be the biggest gathering at the Vatican in its history. President Bush will head the delegation from the United States, the White House said. Britain's Prince Charles postponed his wedding for a day in order to attend. The following is a list of some of the dignitaries who have said they will attend: AFGHANISTAN - President Hamid Karzai ALBANIA - President Alfred Moisiu, former presidents Sali Berisha and Rexhep Meidani, Prime Minister Fatos Nano ARGENTINA - Vice President Daniel Scioli, Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa ARMENIA - Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan AUSTRALIA - Governor-General Michael Jeffery, who represents Britain's Queen Elizabeth as Australia's head of state AUSTRIA - President Heinz Fischer, Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel AZERBAIJAN - Prime Minister Artur Rasizade BANGLADESH - Food and Disaster Management Minister Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf BELGIUM - King Albert II and Queen Paola, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt BENIN - Foreign Minister Rogatien Biaou BOSNIA - Chairman of the state presidency, Borisav Paravac BOLIVIA - President Carlos Mesa BRAZIL - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva BRITAIN - Prince Charles, Prime Minister Tony Blair BULGARIA - President Georgi Parvanov CAMEROON - President Paul Biya, Minister of External Relations Laurent Esso CANADA - Prime Minister Paul Martin CHILE - Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker. President Ricardo Lagos cannot attend as his 108-year-old mother is very ill. COLOMBIA - Vice President Francisco Santos COSTA RICA - President Abel Pacheco, Deputy Foreign Minister Marco Vinicio Vargas CROATIA - President Stjepan Mesic, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader CUBA - National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon CYPRUS - President Tassos Papadopoulos CZECH REPUBLIC - President Vaclav Klaus, Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda DENMARK - Queen Margrethe II and Prince Consort Henrik, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - President Joseph Kabila, Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba ECUADOR - President Lucio Gutierrez or Foreign Minister Patricio Zuquilanda EGYPT - Culture Minister Farouk Hosni EL SALVADOR - Foreign Minister Francisco Lainez ESTONIA - President Arnold Ruutel EUROPEAN UNION - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hubner, Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini and External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Also European Parliament president Josep Borrel FINLAND - Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen FRANCE - President Jacques Chirac GEORGIA - Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili GERMANY - President Horst Koehler, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder GREECE - President Karolos Papoulias GUATEMALA- President Oscar Berger, Foreign Minister Jorge Briz Abularach HONDURAS - President Ricardo Maduro HUNGARY - President Ferenc Madl, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, opposition leader Viktor Orban INDIA - Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat INDONESIA - Social Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab, Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni IRAN - President Mohammad Khatami IRELAND - President Mary McAleese, Prime Minister Bertie Ahern ISRAEL - President Moshe Katsav, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom ITALY - President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi JAPAN - Former foreign minister Yoriko Kawaguchi JORDAN - King Abdullah KENYA - Foreign Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere, Local Government Minister Musikari Kombo KOSOVO - President Ibrahim Rugova LATVIA - President Vaira Vike-Freiberga LEBANON - President Emile Lahoud (Maronite Christian), Prime Minister Omar Karami (Sunni Muslim) and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri (Shi'ite Muslim) LITHUANIA - President Valdas Adamkus LUXEMBOURG - Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker MACEDONIA - President Branko Crvenkovski MADAGASCAR - President Marc Ravolomanana, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcel Ranjeva MALAYSIA - Bernard Dompok, minister in charge of the civil service, Abdullah Mohamad Zin, minister in charge of religious affairs MAURITANIA - Foreign Minister Mohamed Vall Ould Bellal MEXICO - President Vicente Fox MONTENEGRO - President Filip Vujanovic MOZAMBIQUE - President Armando Guebuza NICARAGUA - President Enrique Bolanos, Foreign Minister Norman Caldera NIGERIA - President Olusegun Obasanjo NETHERLANDS - Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende NEW ZEALAND - Governor-General Silvia Cartwright NORWAY - Queen Sonja, Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik (King Harald is in hospital recovering from heart surgery) PAKISTAN - Religious Affairs Minister Mohammad Ejaz ul Haq PALESTINIANS - Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie PANAMA - President Martin Torrijos, Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis PARAGUAY - Vice President Luis Castiglioni and Minister of Education and Culture Blanca Ovelar PERU - Foreign Minister Manuel Rodriguez, President of Peru's Congress Antero Flores, Justice Minister Eduardo Salhuana PHILIPPINES - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo POLAND - President Aleksander Kwasniewski. Lech Walesa and Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Poland's first post-communist president and prime minister PORTUGAL - President Jorge Sampaio ROMANIA - President Traian Basescu, Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu RUSSIA - Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov RWANDA - Foreign Affairs Minister Charles Murigande SENEGAL - President Abdoulaye Wade SERBIA - President Boris Tadic SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO - President Svetozar Marovic SEYCHELLES - President James Michel SIERRA LEONE - Foday Seasay, ambassador to Germany SINGAPORE - Deputy Prime Minister Professor S. Jayakumar SLOVAKIA - President Ivan Gasparovic, Parliament Chairman Pavol Hrusovsky SLOVENIA - President Janez Drnovsek, Prime Minister Janez Jansa, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel. Rupel will represent the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. SPAIN - King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero SOUTH AFRICA - Deputy President Jacob Zuma SOUTH KOREA - Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan SRI LANKA - Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse SWEDEN - King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia SYRIA - President Bashar al-Assad TAIWAN - President Chen Shui-bian TANZANIA - Markets and Cooperatives Minister George Kahama TURKEY - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan UGANDA - Vice-President Gilbert Bukenya, the most senior Catholic in its government; Henry Okello Oryem, minister of state for international affairs. UKRAINE - President Viktor Yushchenko UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan UNITED STATES - President Bush, former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice URUGUAY - Maria Auxiliadora Delgado, the wife of the president, and son Alvaro Vazquez VENEZUELA - Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez RELIGIOUS LEADERS: Metropolitan Kirill, head of external relations for the Moscow Patriarchate. (Patriarch Alexiy II -- who repeatedly refused to meet the Pope -- will not attend) Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I Spiritual head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams Chief Rabbinate Director-General Oded Viner Greek Orthodox leader, Archbishop Christodoulos Head of Armenian Apostolic Church Catholicos Garegin II Turkey's Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II Metropolitan of Abkhazia Daniel Datuashvili Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir Romania's Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist Bulgaria's Orthodox Rousse Bishop Neofit and Vidin Bishop Domitian Norwegian Bishop Finn Wagle of the Protestant state church Swedish Lutheran archbishop, K.G. Hammar Albanian religious leaders: Selim Muca of the (Sunni) Muslim community, Rrok Mirdita, the Catholic Archbishop, Haxhi Dede Reshat Bardhi of the (Shi'ite) Bektashi Muslim sect and Orthodox Archbishop Anastasios of the Orthodox community. Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Abune Paulos -------------- Source - http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050406/pl_nm/pope_funeral_dc __________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger Show us what our next emoticon should look like. Join the fun. http://www.advision.webevents.yahoo.com/emoticontest ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Would you Help a Child in need? It is easier than you think. Click Here to meet a Child you can help. http://us.click.yahoo.com/0Z9NuA/I_qJAA/i1hLAA/wpWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> "[M]y ministry is that of servus servorum Dei." --Pope John Paul II (Ut Unum Sint, no. 88) "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it." --Matthew 16:18 Yahoo! 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