Pope’s funeral: List of dignitaries

VATICAN CITY - The funeral of Pope John Paul on Friday will draw the mighty and the masses together in the biggest gathering at the Vatican in history.

Four kings, five queens, at least 70 presidents and prime ministers and more than 14 leaders of other religions will attend alongside what the Vatican expects will be two million faithful.

US President George W. Bush, the first sitting US president to attend a papal funeral, heads the delegation from the United States. 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, Prime Minister Fatos Nano

ALGERIA - President Abdelaziz Bouteflika

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 - Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Gomiashvili

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

KUWAIT - Sheikh Jaber al-Abdulla al-Jaber al-Sabah, ennvoy of royal family

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, Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas

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

MOROCCO - Prince Rachid, brother of King Mohammed.

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, Prime Minister Marek Belka, Lech Walesa and Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Poland's first post-communist president and prime minister

PORTUGAL - President Jorge Sampaio

QATAR - Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani

REPUBLIC OF CONGO - Foreign Minister Rodolphe Adada

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 Organisation 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 ARAB EMIRATES -Information and Culture Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan

UNITED STATES - President George W. Bush, former US 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

ZIMBABWE - President Robert Mugabe



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

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

- REUTERS