Pope laid to rest after emotional ceremony

updated 1:33 p.m. ET April 8, 2005

VATICAN CITY - Presidents, prime ministers and kings joined pilgrims and prelates in St. Peter’s Square on Friday to bid an emotional farewell to Pope John Paul II at a funeral that drew millions to Rome.

Applause rang out in the wind-whipped square as John Paul’s plain cypress coffin, adorned with a cross and an “M” for the Virgin Mary, was brought out from St. Peter’s Basilica and placed on a carpet in front of the altar. The book of the Gospel was placed on the coffin and the breeze fluttered its pages.

After the Mass ended, bells tolled and 12 pallbearers with white gloves, white ties and tails presented the coffin to the crowd one last time, and then carried it on their shoulders back inside the basilica for burial — again to sustained applause from the hundreds of thousands in the square, including dignitaries from 138 countries.

Chants of “Santo! Santo!” — urging John Paul to be elevated to sainthood immediately — echoed in the square.

The first non-Italian pope in 455 years was buried at 2:20 p.m. (8:20 a.m. EDT) in the grotto under the basilica, attended by prelates and members of the papal household, the Vatican said.

Nearly 4 million people jammed into Rome since the pope died Saturday, doubling the city’s population. There has been no major violence despite the crowds and the many dignitaries, including heads of state, although an apparent miscommunication after the funeral prompted Italian air force jets to intercept a plane flying in to pick up an official delegation.

The 2½-hour Mass began with the Vatican’s Sistine Choir singing the Gregorian chant, “Grant Him Eternal Rest, O Lord.” Cardinals wearing white miters walked onto the square, their red vestments blowing in the breeze.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, a close confidant of John Paul and a possible successor, presided at the Mass and referred to him as our “late beloved pope” in a homily that traced the pontiff’s life from his days as a factory worker in Nazi-occupied Poland to his final days as the head of the world’s 1 billion Catholics.

Drowned out by applause
Interrupted by applause at least 10 times, the usually unflappable German-born Ratzinger choked up as he recalled one of John Paul’s last public appearances — when he blessed the faithful from his studio window on Easter.

“We can be sure that our beloved pope is standing today at the window of the father’s house, that he sees us and blesses us,” he said to applause, even among the prelates, as he pointed up to the third-floor window above the square.

“Today we bury his remains in the earth as a seed of immortality — our hearts are full of sadness, yet at the same time of joyful hope and profound gratitude,” Ratzinger said in heavily accented Italian.

INTERACTIVES AND GRAPHICS GUIDE: Funeral rites and participants GRAPHIC: Ceremony locator map (PDF) GLOSSARY: Papal burial terms PRIMER: Protocol and guest list GRAPHIC: The Sacred Grottoes

He said John Paul was a “priest to the last” and said he had offered his life for God and his flock “especially amid the sufferings of his final months.”

Ratzinger was interrupted again toward the end of the Mass by several minutes of cheers, rhythmic applause and shouts of “Giovanni Paolo Santo” or “Saint John Paul,” from the crowd. The eruption of cheers came right before the Litany of Saints chant, in which the names of the saints are read.

The Mass ended with everyone standing and singing together: “May the angels accompany you into heaven, may the martyrs welcome you when you arrive, and lead you to Holy Jerusalem.”

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