World mourns Pope John Paul II

• FAVORITE SONG PLAYED | 12:42 p.m. ET

At a service in the pope’s hometown of Wadowice, Poland, where some 15,000 flooded the square in front of St. Mary’s Basilica where John Paul was baptized, an orchestra of firefighters played his favorite song, “The Barge.”

• CROWD FEARS | 11:33 a.m. ET

Italian authorities have asked the Vatican to keep Pope John Paul's burial site closed to visitors for a few days, fearing that crowds which have paralyzed Rome will not leave, a Vatican source said on Friday.

The Vatican said the crypt where popes are buried below St. Peter's Basilica would remain shut at least until Monday.

The source, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the decision was taken at the request of Italian authorities.

• MOST-LOVED PERSON | 10:53 a.m. ET

A French priest who traveled 24 hours to Vatican City says Pope John Paul is the most loved person “in the history of mankind.”

Also in St. Peter’s Square was Patricia Vitale, who canceled a Florida vacation with her husband. Instead, they flew from Illinois to Rome to celebrate the man she calls “the greatest father figure in my life.”

A Polish woman who made the trip from Rome says John Paul was “the most important” person in the world, and that he made it possible for Poland to be free. It was a thought echoed by a fellow Pole, who made a 28-hour journey to get to Italy. He says John Paul showed people how to give love to others.

Another man from Poland said simply that the service was “a nice goodbye” for the pope.

• PRAISE IN IRAN | 9:12 a.m. ET

To worshippers’ chants of “Death to America,” an influential Iranian cleric praised Pope John Paul’s teachings on peace.

Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has hinted at a comeback bid in June’s presidential election, praised the pontiff, who was buried in the Vatican on Friday, for his swift condemnation of U.S. military actions in Iraq.

“He was a pope who spoke out for world peace,” Rafsanjani told worshippers at Tehran University. “The late pope gained more respect as he condemned the war in Iraq and the crimes of Americans in Iraqi prisons.”

• AFRICA WATCHES | 8:20 a.m. ET

Normally teeming streets in Africa emptied on Friday as Roman Catholics gathered around televisions to watch the burial in Rome of Pope John Paul, a man many on the struggling continent considered a friend.

“This was a pope and a half, there has never been another like him,” Wanyiri Gitonga told Reuters in Seychelles, as he watched the funeral on television.

“The whole world seems to have come to a standstill. This man was great.”

State television broadcast the funeral live in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Senegal, the Seychelles, Cameroon, South Africa, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar.

The Seychelles, Malawi, the Congo Republic and the DRC declared a national day of mourning. In Congo’s capital Brazzaville, a giant television screen was set up for those without one at home.

Africa has the fastest growing Roman Catholic population in the world.

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