Mandela And Pope John Paul II - Two Farewells For The Ages

Two farewells for a pair of towering figures in world history: the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II and Tuesday’s mass public ceremony to mark the death of Nelson Mandela.

Not since the global public outpouring in Rome more than eight years ago to pay respects to the Polish pontiff has the world come together to mark a life that shaped our times.

Though the personal biographies are quite different, the Roman Catholic monarch and South African freedom fighter shared that unique mix of political and spiritual leadership that extended far beyond their own respective flocks.

Tuesday’s memorial for Mandela is also a chance to take stock in what has and hasn’t changed since John Paul’s passing: the global economic crisis and election of the first African-American president, the Arab Spring, Afghanistan and Iraq, exploding Facebook and Twitter, imploding Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus.

Here are some points of comparison:

Location

St. Peter’s Square

Soweto’s FNB Stadium

Attendance

John Paul II: 300,000

Mandela: 94,000

Notables: The Vatican funeral in 2005 was limited to official political and religious dignitaries — while such celebrities as Bono, the Spice Girls, Charlize Theron and Oprah Winfrey are on hand for Mandela’s farewell.

Here are the officials who showed up, then and now:

John Paul II funeral

Nelson Mandela memorial

France

President Jacques Chirac.

President François Hollande and
former President Nicolas Sarkozy
are attending, although they did not
travel together.

Afghanistan

President Hamid Karzai.

Egypt

Minister of Culture
Farouk Hosni.

No representative.

Syria

Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma.

No representative.

Ukraine

President Viktor Yushchenko.

No representative.

U.S.

George W. Bush with his wife Laura,
George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton.

Barack Obama, George W. Bush,
Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter.

American dignitaries at John Paul II’s funeral — Photo: White House

Brazil

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

President Dilma Rousseff.

Italy

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

United Kingdom

Charles, Prince of Wales, Tony Blair
— but not the Queen.

Charles, Prince of Wales
and Prime Minister David Cameron.
The Queen wished to attend but
has been advised against it by doctors.

Iran

President Mohammad Khatami.

Although President Hassan Rouhani was rumoured to go, he tweeted Monday that his VP for Executive Affairs Mohammad Shariatmadari would be attending the memorial.