What is a ‘working funeral’? The Papal one, for example
Donald Trump tweeted, “Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome. We look forward to being there!” This didn’t go down well with the nit-picky folks on X, because who “looks forward” to going to a funeral? It isn’t exactly a wedding, or a music festival or some sort of Roman holiday. Surely something in the general zone of ‘we will be attending to pay our last respects’ would have been more suitable?
But may be it’s the best one can expect from a man who says world leaders are calling to “kiss my ass”, describes a free nation as his ‘51st state’ and calls the head of his own federal reserve “a major loser”. Talking classy isn’t his strong suit, clearly.
On the other hand, perhaps Trump’s onto something. If you’ve seen the hilarious BBC series Yes, Prime Minister, you may remember an episode where James Hacker, the British PM, explains the concept of a ‘working funeral’ to his wife. She sees him bent over reams of documents, asks if he’s reading a draft of the sermon, to which he replies testily: ‘Lord no, this isn’t about the sermon! This is about politics. This funeral has come at exactly the right moment. We’ve got all sorts of things to discuss—NATO, the Warsaw pact, the Middle East of course.’ (Umm, sounds familiar?)
Mrs Hacker goes on to ask: “So this funeral would be a sort of summit conference?”
Hacker: “Yes! It’s a heaven-sent opportunity!”
Mrs Hacker (eye-rolling): “Literally!”
Totally missing the sarcasm, Hacker continues to explain: “Much better than a summit, because there are no expectations. People don’t expect their leaders to come back from a funeral with test-ban agreements or farm-quota reductions, so one can actually have some meaningful discussions. A summit, on the other hand, is just a public relations circus.”
Everybody, it seems, is going to be at Papa Francesco’s funeral. Apart from Trump, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky were amongst the first to confirm their attendance to the ceremony to be held on Saturday in Vatican City. Britain is sending a high-ranking royal. Condolences and confirmations continue to pour in from leaders and nations around the world.
It’s encouraging that ‘Trump whisperer’ Giorgia Meloni will be on home turf and strategically placed to provide a much-needed soothing touch to the various heads-of-state brushing bristling shoulders in the pews.
I am really starting to feel very hopeful about this funeral.
In the BBC series Hacker explains: “It is good if there’s lots of singing and organ music because one can talk softly through it. And, during the sermon, one can catch up on jet lag.” He concludes his little homily on working funerals by saying of the deceased: “He’s done much more for the world by dying than he ever did in the whole of his life.”
Of course this is not true of Pope Francis—a man of compassion, forgiveness and simplicity, who did so much good, and whose final message, read aloud by his archbishop on Easter, mentioned the people of Gaza in particular—appealing for a ceasefire, an exchange of hostages and a thawing of hostilities. It went on to painstakingly pray for every single war-torn nation in the world, focussing specially on the vulnerable, the marginalised and the migrants.
The Beatles, appealing for unity and common ground, once sang ‘come together, right now, over me’. The Pope’s body, laid out in the nave of St Peter’s Basilica, seems to be making the very same appeal.
Indeed, his death, at this juncture, provides an opportunity to the world’s hardliners to face-save, climb down and take up kinder, more conciliatory positions all round.
Let’s hope they make the most of it.
editor@theweek.in
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