US: Former presidents George Bush snr and Bill Clinton as well as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will join President George W Bush and Mrs Bush at Pope John II's funeral, the White House announced yesterday.
However, former president Jimmy Carter will not be accompanying the delegation, a spokesman said, adding that he was asked to go, but will not do so. The other living former president, Gerald Ford (91), rarely travels now.
In Rome, Mr Bush will meet Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, and after the funeral on Friday will leave for his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
A spokesman for Mr Clinton said that he had been given medical clearance to fly to Rome. He had surgery last month to deal with a rare complication from a heart bypass operation.