Tuesday, April 5 2005 11:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vatican City: A stream of people flowed in and out of St Peter's Basilica early today (Apr 5, 2005) as they joined millions across the world to offer a long, fond farewell to the late Pope John Paul II.

After a day of high ceremony yesterday (Apr 4, 2005) during which the Pope's body was transferred from the Apostolic Palace to the altar in the centre of the massive basilica, ordinary people began paying their respects, in their thousands, to the "people's Pope".

Behind Vatican walls, meanwhile, cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church kicked off a daily series of general congregations, deciding that John Paul II's funeral mass will begin at 10:00 hrs local time (01:30 hrs IST) on Friday (Apr 8, 2005) when the Pontiff will be laid to rest in the crypt of St Peter's.

Many Poles had hoped that the Pope would have left instructions to be buried in his native land.

The cardinals from the Vatican hierarchy and more than 100 dioceses around the world have yet to announce a date for their conclave to elect the next leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.

Friday's funeral is set to draw up to two million mourners, officials say, as well as some 200 foreign leaders including US President George W Bush, and hundreds of millions more will follow the ceremony on television across the world.

The crowds will be the largest seen in Vatican City since the peace demonstrations two years ago against the US-led war on Iraq.

The Pope's death has drawn eulogies around the world for his commitment to peace, humanity and dialogue and his contribution to the fall of communism in Poland and by extension the whole of Eastern Europe.