The world comes to pay respects

VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II body was carried ceremoniously Monday into St. Peter's Basilica, where it will lie in state for public viewing until Thursday evening. 

NBC News' Keith Miller explains the significance of the procession and explains what will happen next in terms of the start of the Conclave to choose the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

What is the mood in St. Peter’s today with pilgrims lining up to see the pope lying in state?
Well it’s interesting; it’s not particularly sad at the moment, but I imagine that once his body is lying in state, the mood will change as people get closer to St. Peter’s Basilica where he will be.

There are lots and lots of people. Certainly as many people as I’ve seen in this square in more than a decade. I think that we will see an overflowing crowd. The lines are going to be massive. There is a lot of reverence; people really want to pay their respects personally.

The Vatican realizes that the numbers that are expected are quite phenomenal. So they are actually going to leave the basilica open for 21 hours at a time. They will just be closing it for three hours a day to clean the basilica. Otherwise it will be open until Thursday evening before the funeral on Friday.

At the moment, they are planning on having the funeral on the steps of St. Peter’s Square — just in front of the basilica. Depending on the weather — it looks like it will be favorable — so that’s what they are planning on. If it were a torrential downpour they may think about moving it inside.

But, they want to accommodate as many people as they can. You can get about 100,000 people into St. Peter’s Square. I noticed today that they set up television monitors on the main streets leaving out of St. Peter’s Square. So, they are expecting an overflow capacity to participate in the pope’s funeral.

Can you describe the diversity of the crowd? Does it really look like a global outpouring? 
Well, St. Peter’s Square has always been a global magnet, just because of the reach of the Roman Catholic Church with over a billion members. They now have cardinals arriving in town and they represent over 66 different nations.

So, just by its very nature the Roman Catholic Church has turned into a very diverse, global organization. With that in mind, people who come to Rome on any given day tend to represent dozens and dozens of different nations.

What will be significant is that this particular pope, who traveled to more than a hundred countries, made personal contact with such a diverse group of people and cultures.

There will probably be some person representing each of those different countries here to pay their respects. I think just about every nationality on the planet will here at one point or another over the next three days.

Can you explain the significance of the process we saw today?
Pope John Paul II was the 264^th pope to reign over the Vatican. So, there is a lot of history, a lot pageantry, a lot of formality involved in burying a pope.

On Monday, his body was moved from the Apostolic Palace, where it has been lying in state for members of the Vatican staff and high-ranking Italian and other political officials.

It was moved through the bronze doors, down through St. Peter’s Square, then up the steps through the massive bronze doors of the basilica itself. It was an extremely moving ceremony, full of symbolism.

Over the next five days we will see lots of symbolism. The church is very good at it and knows how to conduct this sort of ceremony with dignity — all the way through the high funeral mass that will be held in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday.

It’s interesting that even the future King of England has rescheduled his wedding plans because of the date of the funeral. It was going to coincide with his wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles and it did not seem appropriate to him.

So, not just ordinary people, and us journalists are affected by the pope’s death, but it goes right on up to monarchy. 

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