The Vatican overturned protocol to ensure that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was given a front-row seat at the funeral of Pope Francis, along with U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. — Ukrinform.
That's what I was trying to say; Zelensky is protecting European democracies from Putistan. All while Trump is destroying fundamental institutions of American democracy.
They didn't, alphabetical order in French is the protocol in question. The USA's name in French is États-Unis, putting it much earlier in the alphabet than it would be in English. Since France and Finland (both still start with F in French) were in the front row, we know that États-Unis would be too