Wednesday, April 13 2005 20:45 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Vatican City: Conservative German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger emerged as a frontrunner in the race to find John Paul II's successor today (Apr 13, 2005) as thousands of pilgrims flocked to pay their respects at the tomb of the late Pope, open to the public for the first time since his burial.

With only five days remaining before the opening of a conclave next Monday, Italian media reported growing support for Ratzinger, who was the Holy Seer's doctrinal enforcer and a close confidant of the Polish-born Pope.

Meanwhile, thousands of pilgrims, some weeping, bore prayers and messages of love to the simple marble-slab tomb of as the Vatican opened the crypt of St Peter's basilica shortly after dawn.

"It's moving to see him shut up in a tomb," said Rosa Sgarenella, from Bari in southern Italy, as she left the vaulted crypt.

"We remember him being so alive."

Mourners paused to pray before the grave - inscribed with his name in Latin, Joannes Paulus II, and the years of his life: 1920-2005 - and ushers quietly prodded the stream of pilgrims to move along.

Sister Selka, an Indian nun of the Sisters of the Imitation of Christ order, said she had come "like Mary Magdalene who went to see Our Lord early in the morning," referring to the biblical account of the discovery of Jesus' resurrection.

"I want to pray at the tomb of the Holy Father," said Father Leszek of the Pope's native Poland, as he waited in a queue of hundreds of people before dawn. "It is very hard to apply his teachings in our lives, so I want to beg him for help."