Donald Trump could be forced to follow major Vatican protocol at Pope Francis’ funeral

While he's used to being the centre of attention, Donald Trump might not be so fond of the seating plan arranged for Pope Francis' funeral, due to Vatican protocol.

Despite claiming in 2013, at the beginning of his papacy, that the pope was 'very much' like him, Trump has not always seen eye to eye with him in recent years.

Several months after it was announced that Francis would be the next pope, Trump posted on X: "The new Pope is a humble man, very much like me, which probably explains why I like him so much!"

But the late pope, who was 88 when he passed away on Easter Monday (20 April), was an outspoken critic of some of Trump’s policies, which he said were ‘not Christian’.

Before his first term in office, Trump had famously vowed to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.

Speaking to press at the time, Francis said: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the Gospel."

Trump could be forced to take a step away from the limelight on Saturday for the funeral of the pope (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Upon hearing of the sad news on Monday, the president posted: "Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome.

"We look forward to being there!"

And while we can all agree it's quite strange wording, we doubt the Republican leader will be 'looking forward' to the event quite so much after seeing the seating plan.

While the Vatican has not yet released who exactly will be sitting where, world leaders are usually in the third tier of seats at a pope's funeral.

The front row is usually reserved for Catholic royalty, including archbishops, bishops, patriarchs and cardinals.

The row behind that will see non-Catholic royals such as the Prince William, who is attending on behalf of the King.

The late pope did not always see eye-to-eye with the president (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Then comes politicians such as Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, and of course, Trump.

The 78-year-old is expected to fly to Rome later tonight, despite his differences with the late pope.

In February, just months before his death, Francis wrote an open letter to US bishops, where he described the new president’s plans as a ‘crisis’ for the nation.

“I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations,” he said.

"The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality."