Pope John Paul II's Funeral Set for Friday


VATICAN CITY - With tens of thousands of pilgrims converging Monday on Rome, the Vatican set the funeral of Pope John Paul II for Friday, with burial in the grotto of St. Peter's Basilica, where pontiffs throughout the ages have been laid to rest.







Chief spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the announcement after the College of Cardinals held two meetings over the course of 2 1/2 hours in its first gatherings ahead of a secret vote later this month to elect a successor to John Paul.


The funeral is expected to draw up to 2 million people, including heads of state from around the world. President Bush and his wife confirmed they would attend, as did Spain's prime minister. Prince Charles put off his wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles for a day so he could attend.


Vatican employees filed silently past the body Monday morning to pay their last respects. Members of the public lined up by the tens of thousands in the glaring sun hours before the start of a public viewing and a prayer service at St. Peter's Basilica later in the day.


Rome police estimated the crowd stood at 100,000 at 2 p.m. — more than three hours before the body was to be brought into the basilica.


The spokesman said John Paul's body will be carried briefly through St. Peter's Square later Monday en route to the basilica, where a prayer service will be celebrated by Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, the camerlengo, or chamberlain who is the most important official running the church following the pope's death. After the service, the public will be allowed to view the body.


"It's extraordinary. It happens once in a lifetime," said Uwe Kunzmann, a civil engineer from Karlsruhe, Germany. "We want to be in the crowd."


Navarro-Valls said John Paul would "almost surely" be buried in the tomb where Pope John XXIII lay before he was brought up onto the main floor of the Basilica.


That pope, who died in 1963, was moved after his 2000 beatification because so many pilgrims wanted to visit his tomb, and the grotto is in a cramped underground space.


In the first meeting Monday, the cardinals took an oath of secrecy, as called for in the Vatican document outlining the procedures following the death of a pope. In the second one, they made their decisions on the funeral rites, Navarro-Valls said. There were 65 cardinals attending.


There had been speculation that the pope might have left orders to be buried in his native Poland, but Navarro-Valls said John Paul "did not show any such wish."


Poles have hoped the heart of the pope — the first non-Italian pope in 455 years — might may be placed in Wavel Cathedral in Krakow, where Polish saints and royalty are buried. Asked if this was ruled out by burial in St. Peter's, Navarro-Valls did not directly reply, saying he was merely transmitting information on decisions taken by the cardinals Monday.


The Rev. Eduard Berezowski, who was bringing 50 pilgrims from Gdansk, Poland, for the funeral, said he saw no problems with the burial in St. Peter's.


"It's only right. He was the bishop of Rome," he said.


Under Vatican tradition, Friday is the latest the funeral could have been held. John Paul will be buried immediately after the 10 a.m. (4 a.m. EDT) funeral, Navarro-Valls said.


"It will be a moment without precedent," Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni told Repubblica Radio on Monday. "Rome will grind to a halt to guarantee the full development of the demonstration of love for the pontificate, guaranteeing the maximum security for all the heads of state who will arrive to pay homage to the pope."


The meeting at the Bologna Hall of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace was the first gathering of the world's Roman Catholic cardinals since the pontiff's death. After taking the oath, they were to open any final documents John Paul may have prepared for them.





Navarro-Valls made no mention of a date for the papal election, or conclave, implying that no such decision had been made. By church law, the conclave must take place within two weeks of the burial. Another meeting was scheduled for Tuesday.

To accommodate the thousands of faithful expected for the public viewing this week, the basilica will remain open except for three hours — from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. — for cleaning, Navarro-Valls said.

On Sunday, John Paul lay in state in the Vatican's frescoed Apostolic Palace, dressed in crimson vestments and a white bishop's miter, his head resting on a stack of gold pillows. A rosary was wound around his hands and a staff was tucked under his left forearm. A Swiss Guard stood on either side as diplomats, politicians and clergy paid their respects at his feet.

The former chief rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff, who hosted John Paul during the pontiff's historic visit to Rome's central synagogue in 1986, viewed the body Monday. He raised his arm before the body in a gesture of tribute. The current chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, viewed the body Sunday.

John Paul's body appeared to have been touched up. There was no official word on whether it was embalmed.

Rome is bracing for a crush of mourners expected to pay tribute to the pope who reigned firmly over his flock for 26 years with unbending loyalty to its ancient precepts, resisting calls from modernizers for the church to adapt.

A massive camp site is being set up on the outskirts of the city to house pilgrims, and city hall has increased the number of bus runs and prepared bus shuttles to and from the capital's two main railway stations.

In St. Peter's Square on Monday, lamp posts were covered with impromptu memorials, including flowers, icons, and handwritten messages and children's drawings pinned up with multicolored candle wax.

The Vatican's Swiss Guards, who normally wear gaily colored uniforms, were clad in black cloaks.

"Even if we fear we've lost a point of reference, I feel like everybody in this square is united with him in a hug," said Luca Ghizzardi, a 38-year-old nurse among the throng, with a sleeping bag and a handmade peace flag at his feet.

The pope died Saturday of septic shock and cardio-circulatory collapse, but had been struggling with declining health for many years. He was 84.

As they begin preparatory meetings, the cardinals quietly will be sizing up on another for the task of electing the 265th successor to the first pope, St. Peter.

John Paul was 58 when the cardinals elected him in 1978. He appointed all but three of the 117 cardinals entitled to attend the secret conclave electing the new pope, but there is no guarantee that his legacy of conservatism will continue into the new reign.

John Paul opposed divorce, birth control and abortion, the ordination of women and the lifting of the celibacy requirement for priests, issues that sharply divided the church.