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 an oath of secrecy, the red-capped prelates also were to open any final documents John Paul may have prepared for them. The cardinals will meet later for a conclave, the secret gathering in which they will elect a new pope.

Yesterday, as soon as Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who presided at the Mass, mentioned the late pope's name, the sea of worshippers applauded loudly.

"He died with the serenity of the saints," Sodano said in his homily, recalling his final visit to the 84-year-old John Paul's deathbed in the papal apartment.

Inside a marble-covered hall, John Paul's body lay in state for viewing by cardinals and dignitaries. The ceremony was broadcast to the outside world for the first time in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

Priests participated in a candlelight procession yesterday at the shrine of Gethsemane, just outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, during prayers of mourning for the late Pope John Paul II. Oded Bality • Associated Press

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, described an ideal pope to French Inter radio: "When you see his face, and when you hear him speak, you should have the impression like that made by the arrival of John Paul II in October 1978 — wow, here you can see Christ come among us."

Also yesterday, the Vatican released a report by the pope's personal physician stating that John Paul had died of septic shock, a medical term for severe infection that causes organ failure, and irreversible cardio-circulatory collapse. It also said he had suffered from acute breathing problems, heart disease and other ailments.

Among the underlying causes for his catastrophic decline was Parkinson's disease, the statement said. It was the first time the Vatican has acknowledged the pope suffered from the disease that outside physicians estimate began to afflict him about 15 years ago.

The pope also suffered low blood pressure, insufficient blood flow and an enlarged prostate gland. The death certificate said the urinary tract infection that poisoned his blood was a complication of the prostate problem.

The statement said the Vatican's chamberlain, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, confirmed the pope's death, as required by church regulations. Martinez Somalo is the interim spiritual leader of the church, though he lacks the governing authority.

In past eras, the chamberlain is said to have authenticated a pope's death by tapping his forehead three times with a silver hammer and calling out his name three times.

On Saturday, confirmation was by means of 20 minutes of monitoring with a special electrocardiograph.

The crowd at Vatican City applauded and some fought back tears yesterday when Archbishop Leonardo Sandri read a posthumous appeal he said the pope had prepared — perhaps one of the last written messages of John Paul's 26-year reign.

"To humanity, which sometimes seems lost and dominated by the power of evil, egoism and fear, the risen Lord offers as a gift his love that pardons, reconciles and reopens the soul to hope," it said.

And, in his written homily, Sodano referred to John Paul as "the Great," an honorific applied only to two of the church's 263 previous pontiffs. "He died with the serenity of the saints," Sodano said.

Sodano, in his spoken remarks, did not describe John Paul as "the Great." The phrase was in the written text, however, and under Vatican rules, what is written is official. There was no explanation for the inconsistency.

The only other popes to be called "the Great" were Pope Leo I, a fifth-century pontiff who warded off an attack on Rome by Attila the Hun, and Pope Gregory I, who at the turn of the seventh century protected Rome against invading Lombards and provided the city's hungry with food from Vatican stores.

In John Paul's native Poland, 100,000 people filled a square yesterday in Warsaw where the pope celebrated a landmark 1979 Mass credited with contributing to the fall of communism.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani joined parishioners who packed St. Patrick's Cathedral for a standing-room-only Mass.

Iraq's National Assembly, struggling to form a new government, also paused to observe a moment of silence for the pope at the start of its third session since Jan. 30 elections.

People from every continent — and of every faith — found something in the life of the pope to praise.

"The Jewish people will remember the pope, who bravely put an end to historic injustice by officially rejecting prejudices and accusations against Jews," Israel's President Moshe Katsav told Israel Radio.

On the Indonesian island of Nias — devastated by last week's deadly, magnitude-8.7 earthquake — a priest led special prayers at Santa Maria Cathedral.

"Physically, he has gone, but his spirit still lives on among Catholics around the world," the Rev. Michael To said in Nias.

Bells tolled in churches everywhere. In Paris, the great bell of Notre Dame sounded 84 times — once for each year of the pontiff's life.

Bells also rang in Monaco, where Prince Albert expressed his family's pain over the pope's death even as his own father, 81-year-old Prince Rainier III, clung to life. "We are so thankful to His Holiness to have so often, and again recently, accorded his apostolic blessing on our father," said a message by Albert released yesterday by the royal palace.

And the Dalai Lama, in a message released by the Tibetan spiritual leader's office in exile, said: "Pope John Paul II was a man I held in high regard."

The pope's body lay atop a bier yesterday in Clementine Hall, a reception room down the hall from the apartment where he died. John Paul was attired in red vestments. A white miter was set on his head, which rested on three golden damask pillows. The pope's familiar long silver pastoral staff was tucked under his left arm. Folded hands held a wooden rosary.

A pair of Swiss Guards dressed in 16th-century orange and blue uniforms flanked the bier. Cardinals in white lace doffed scarlet skullcaps as they bowed and kneeled before the body.