'Last, most important farewell'
By Tracy Wilkinson
Los Angeles Times
VATICAN CITY — In a procession both majestic and medieval, 12 white-gloved pallbearers carried the body of Pope John Paul II from the inner chambers of the Vatican across St. Peter's Square yesterday and laid him at the altar of the basilica where he will be buried Friday.
Andrew Medichini • Associated Press
With slow, deliberate steps, cardinals in scarlet vestments and young priests in white tunics escorted the velvet bier as the pope moved closer to his final resting place, entering the basilica in a cloud of incense amid mournfully recited prayers.
An emotional crowd watches as Pope John Paul II's body is carried across St. Peter's Square to the basilica where he will be buried on Friday.
The doors of St. Peter's church then opened to the public, and tens of thousands of people from all over the world began filing past the body. The pontiff, who died Saturday night, ending history's third-longest papal reign, will lie in state for public viewing nearly around-the-clock until Friday's funeral.
When doors to the basilica were opened to the waiting crowd, a huge cheer went up. "Bravo, John Paul," chanted the crowd, many of whom had been waiting more than 12 hours to get in. "John Paul, bravo."
The Vatican announced that John Paul would be buried in a marble crypt beneath the basilica, where popes for centuries have been entombed, among them, tradition holds, St. Peter himself.
Remaining steps in the process of selecting a new pope under rules laid down by the late Pope John Paul II in 1996: • The College of Cardinals today will hold the latest in series of general congregation meetings in preparation of conclave. • Public viewing of the pope's body continues in St. Peter's Basilica today and will last as long as people come in the days leading up to the funeral Friday at 10 a.m. • Appointments of top Vatican officials cease, but assistants continue routine business. College of Cardinals temporarily governs the Roman Catholic Church. The chamberlain continues to organize conclave where the cardinals will choose a new pope. • The conclave begins 15 to 20 days after the pope's death. • Cardinals eligible to vote — those under age 80 — are sequestered within Vatican City and take an oath of secrecy. • Any baptized Roman Catholic male is eligible for election as pope, but only cardinals have been selected since 1378. • Two ballots are held each morning and two each afternoon in the Sistine Chapel. If no one gets the required two-thirds majority after about 12 days, cardinals may change procedure and elect a pope by simple majority. • Ballots are burned after each round. Black smoke means no decision; white smoke signals that cardinals have chosen pope and he has accepted. • A new pope is introduced at St. Peter's Square and imparts his first blessing. — Associated Press
The transfer of the body and the details of the funeral were the first decisions to emanate from the College of Cardinals, which began meeting yesterday to plot the future of the Roman Catholic Church, including, eventually, the selection of John Paul's successor.
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Sixty-five cardinals, a little more than a third of the total body, convened in the Bologna Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace. In a session known as a general congregation, they swore an oath of secrecy and then set about moving the church through a period of mourning and transition.
"The 65 cardinals present have taken the most urgent decisions," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. The remaining cardinals were to arrive later yesterday and today.
With a panoply of solemn rituals unfolding, up to 2 million pilgrims and mourners are expected to flood Rome ahead of Friday's 10 a.m. service. Official delegations will be led by presidents and kings.
President Bush, the first sitting American president to attend a pope's funeral, will be among an estimated 200 heads of state and other senior foreign officials.
The White House announced yesterday that the president and first lady Laura Bush will lead a five-member delegation to the funeral, with the three other officials to be named today.
In St. Peter's Square, tens of thousands of people watched in awe as the pope's body was carried to the basilica. Some stood on tiptoes, craned their necks and stretched to snap photos.
Flanked by Swiss guards in red-plumed helmets, a somber parade of priests and seminarians, monks in brown cassocks, and cardinals in scarlet caps escorted the body from the 17th-century Clementine Hall into the sunlit piazza.
To the haunting intonations of Gregorian chants and the recitation of the Litany of Saints, the pallbearers ferried the pope's bier across the square to the front doors of St. Peter's Basilica. There, the cortege paused, and the pallbearers turned the platform for a brief moment, as if to allow the pope a final glance over the square and the faithful filling it.
"Last week, I was watching TV and there was a program about the life of the pope. I saw him as I had never seen him before, as a man with a great sense of humor," said Sarah D'Angelo, 23. "I'm very sad not to have the possibility to know him better any longer, so I came here for the last, most important farewell."
The pope was swathed in a red-velvet chasuble, a vestment he traditionally wore during pre-Easter services commemorating the Passion of Christ.
Inside the basilica, Christendom's largest church, he lay before Bernini's bronze and gilded baldachino, a colossal, Baroque high altar erected nearly 400 years ago.
Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, the camerlingo, or chamberlain who is in charge of running church affairs during this interregnum, led the procession and the service. Both before leaving the Clementine Hall, and again when the pope came to rest in St. Peter's Basilica, Martinez blessed John Paul with holy water and holy oils from a golden chalice, first at his feet, then at each side. Finally, Martinez sent puffs of ceremonial incense wafting over the corpse.
ALuca Bruno • Associated Press
"May perpetual light shine on him," said Martinez, 78. "May he rest in peace." Concluding the liturgy, Martinez wiped tears from his face. Finally each of the cardinals and bishops approached the pope and kneeled or bowed.
Tens of thousands turned out to catch a glimpse of the late John Paul II as the procession moved through St. Peter's Square.
The doors then opened to the public, and ordinary people — Italians, pilgrims, tourists, the faithful, the curious — poured into the cavernous church and filed, quickly, past the lifeless body of a man who had suffered so publicly but now lay still.
After taking a quick glimpse at the pope's remains as police whispered "Hurry up," many leaned against the walls of the basilica and sobbed.
Some managed to snap photographs with cell phones as they circled John Paul's body.
"I would like to tell him how much I love him," said Lorenzo Cardone, 9, waiting in line with his parents.
"My faith is more strong now," said Tulio Jaranga, a 42-year-old Peruvian, lingering a moment in the doorway of the basilica. "He showed us through his suffering that no happiness is possible without pain."
The Associated Press and the Chicago Tribune contributed to this report.
