by Melanie Nathan, Lez Get Real, USA - An EU travel ban forbids Mugabe from visiting member states but the Vatican, where the ceremony will take place, is a sovereign state and not in the EU. Mr Mugabe, a Roman Catholic, has been allowed to transit through Italy. Despite the travel ban, Mr Mugabe went to Rome for the funeral of John Paul II in 2005 and for UN food agency conferences in 2008 and 2009. The sanction on Mr Mugabe was imposed in 2002 over human rights abuses.