Turkish parliament speaker attends Pope Francis’ funeral at Vatican

Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus attended the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, representing Türkiye at the event.

Upon his arrival, Kurtulmus was welcomed by Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State.

During the ceremony, Kurtulmus met with Sahiba Gafarova, speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan, and engaged with several other parliamentary leaders and country representatives gathered to pay their respects.

Following the funeral, Kurtulmus visited the Embassy of Türkiye to the Vatican.

More than 250,000 people, including numerous world leaders and royals, attended the funeral of Pope Francis, who passed away on Monday at the age of 88.

The Catholic leader was born in Buenos Aires on Dec. 17, 1936, to Italian immigrant parents.

He studied in Argentina and later in Germany before being ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969.

Over a decade into his papacy, he remained a figure of admiration and controversy.

He sought to reform the Vatican’s bureaucracy, tackle corruption, and address some of the church’s most pressing challenges.

The pope was admitted to a hospital in Rome in February with bronchitis, which developed into bilateral pneumonia. He was discharged after 38 days to continue his recovery at his Vatican residence, but his health continued to decline.