VATICAN CITY, April 4: Pall bearers, cardinals and monks took Pope John Paul on one last trip from his palace on Monday, escorting his body to St Peter’s Basilica, the church that was his for 26 years and will be his burial place. The bier carrying the pope who had travelled the world began its short journey in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace where he lived and ended it in the largest church in Christendom, where he will be buried after a funeral that cardinals set for Friday.
In a solemn ceremony shown on television, a procession of red-robed churchmen and suited ushers snaked its way slowly through frescoed hallways, down marble stairways and into St Peter’s Square, packed with tens of thousands of faithful.
As the Polish Pope’s fully robed body, the hands clasped across the chest, emerged into the sunlit square, crowds waiting to file past it applauded in a traditional Italian sign of respect for the dead.
On the threshold of the basilica, the 12 ushers who had been carrying the body feet first, turned it around for a minute so the Pope could face the square where he had presided over thousands of general audiences and masses for a last time.
Roman Catholic cardinals, meeting for the first time since the Pope’s death, decided to hold his funeral service on Friday. It is expected to draw the greatest tide of pilgrims and heads of state to the Vatican in its history.
Over the coming days, Pope John Paul’s body will lie in state inside the 16th century basilica.
Hours before public viewing was due to start, police estimated that more than 100,000 people were lined up on the broad boulevard leading from the River Tiber to the basilica.
LATIN CHANTS:The Pope’s body, clad in crimson and white vestments, was carried on a red velvet litter and flanked by Swiss guards in ceremonial uniform. It was placed on a spot in the basilica just before the tomb of St Peter, the first pope.
Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, the chamberlain of the Vatican, performed a ritual blessing of the body with holy water and incense as a choir chanted in Latin.—Reuters
