VATICAN CITY, April 6: Popes may be mortal but they are no ordinary mortals. So, Pope John Paul’s funeral and burial on Friday will follow an elaborate ritual involving three coffins, one inside the other, and other long-standing traditions. The Pope will be buried under the spot once occupied by the tomb of Pope John XXIII in the crypt beneath St Peter’s Basilica. Pope John, who launched the Second Vatican Council that introduced Church reforms, was one of the Roman Catholic Church’s most loved popes of modern times and is still known as “The Good Pope” because of his smile and genial nature.

John, who died in 1963, was placed in an above-ground marble tomb in the crypt, known as the Vatican Grottoes. The body was moved in 2001 to a chapel on the altar floor of the basilica and the alcove where his tomb had stood remained empty.

It is under the floor of that alcove that John Paul will be buried.

After the public viewing of John Paul’s body ends on Thursday, it will first be laid in a plain cypress wood coffin.

The Pope’s long-time personal secretary and another Vatican official will place a white silk veil on his face.

The Pope will wear liturgical vestments and his bishop’s hat will be placed on his chest.

A small bag of commemorative medals from his pontificate and a brief summary of his life, sealed in a lead tube, will be put in the coffin.

It is still not clear if some earth from his Polish homeland will also be buried with the Pope.

A Vatican official, in answer to a question, said there had been “thousands” of requests to put objects in the coffin.

A LAST GOODBYE: A special prayer for the repose of the Pope’s soul will be read before the first coffin is sealed.

The Pope’s body will be placed in the first coffin sometime on Thursday night, ahead of Friday’s outdoor funeral, which is due to last about three hours, said Archbishop Piero Marini, the Vatican’s Master of Ceremonies.

The cypress coffin will be placed on the stone steps of St. Peter’s Basilica during the funeral Mass, after which it will be moved inside the building.

There, according to Church tradition, it will be placed in a zinc coffin which will be hermetically sealed. The zinc coffin will in turn be placed in an oak coffin and interred under a marble slab.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the Pope had not been embalmed but said the body had been “prepared” for viewing because it will remain on display in St. Peter’s Basilica until Thursday night.

Hundreds of thousands of faithful have been flowing past the Pope’s body since Monday to pay their last respects. —Reuters