The funeral for Pope Francis was intended to be a stripped down affair to honor the simplicity of the man. Instead the attendance of US President Donald Trump has turned it into a high-profile stage for international diplomacy at a moment of geopolitical turmoil.

With the world in the throes of a trade war, markets gyrating wildly and a truce between Ukraine and Russia hanging in the balance, everyone from Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Britain’s Keir Starmer and France’s Emmanuel Macron is seeking a quick audience with the mercurial American leader on his first trip abroad since the inauguration.