By Yasin Gungor

ISTANBUL (AA) – US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has “a lot of meetings set up” with world leaders during his upcoming visit to the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis.

“I do. I have a lot of meetings set up. I don't know if I can do it,” Trump told reporters when asked about possible meetings on the sidelines of the funeral.

The funeral, set for Saturday, will mark Trump's first overseas trip since taking office in January. He will be accompanied by first lady Melania Trump.

“We look forward to being there,” Trump wrote earlier this week on his Truth Social platform.

Numerous world leaders are expected to attend the funeral, including French President Emmanuel Macron; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen; Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Argentinian President Javier Milei and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, according to media reports.

Pope Francis died Monday at the age of 88 after suffering a cerebral stroke and heart failure, according to Vatican physician Andrea Arcangeli.

Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, was born in Buenos Aires in 1936 to Italian immigrant parents. Ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969, he studied in Argentina and later in Germany before rising to lead the Catholic Church in 2013.