Friday, April 8 2005 20:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vatican City: Pope John Paul II was laid to rest in Saint Peter's basilica today (Apr 8, 2005) after an elaborate and emotional funeral rite attended by about one million people and watched by countless others around the world.

Vatican officials said the Pope's body, encased in three caskets, was buried in the crypt close to the spot believed to contain the remains of Peter, the apostle chosen by Jesus Christ to found his church almost 2,000 years ago.

The Polish-born Pope died Saturday (Apr 2) aged 84 after a 26-year reign, the third longest in history.

About 300,000 mourners thronged in and around Saint Peter's Square, where the Pope's body lay in a plain wooden coffin during the mass attended by the political and religious leaders of more than half the world's nations.

An estimated 700,000 other pilgrims filled surrounding streets to watch the ceremony on giant video screens.

At one point the mass seemed about to turn into a demonstration of Polish fervour when a large section of the crowd interrupted the ritual with calls for the immediate canonisation of the Pope.

A reporter on a roof overlooking the square estimated that 10,000 people held red-and-white Polish flags and banners reading "Santo Subito" (sainthood at once) and broke into a chant of "Santo, Santo" lasting about seven minutes.

During his homily, the officiating priest, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said that John Paul II had borne "a burden which transcends merely human abilities."

Recalling how the Pope had appeared at a window in the Vatican to bless believers on Easter Sunday, six days before his death, when he could no longer speak, the cardinal said: "Our Pope never wanted to spare his own life, but gave himself unreservedly for Christ until his last moment ... now we can be sure that our beloved Pope is at the window of God's house, where he sees and blesses us."

World leaders, including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and US President George W Bush, sat on the left-hand side of the esplanade in serried ranks of mourning black.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, the largest Catholic country, was also present, was were French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who broke off campaigning for the May 5 general election to fly to Rome.

On the other side of the altar sat red-robed cardinals, many of whom - those under the age of 80 - will meet in a secret conclave on April 18 to start the process of electing the next Pope.

Vatican Swiss guards in yellow and purple uniforms and scarlet-plumed helmets stood by while Catholic bishops in purple sat beside prelates of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

An open red-bound New Testament was placed on top of the coffin, its pages riffling in the wind.

The mass, celebrated on the windswept square under a cloudy sky, was broadcast live and watched by hundreds of millions of television viewers worldwide.

In the southern Polish city of Krakow, some 800,000 people gathered in a field to follow the funeral broadcast live on giant screens, local police said.