Half a world away from the Vatican, millions of Asians joined in Pope John Paul's funeral yesterday at churches, open-air Masses and on live television.
Apart from the Philippines and East Timor, Catholics are in the minority in the region. But the spectacle of the Pope being laid to rest, and his charismatic message of peace, attracted Asians of all faiths.
"I came to join the prayers because I respected the Pope for his views on spirituality and universal brotherhood," said Ilyas Mallik, a Muslim trader who sat alongside Hindus and Catholics at a service in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta.
At Manila's Luneta Park, where John Paul celebrated Mass with five million Filipinos in 1995, 20,000 people watched the rites in St Peter's Square on four giant screens.
At Quiapo Church in the capital, devotees gave handkerchiefs to be wiped on a large photo of John Paul surrounded by flowers - a blessing ritual usually reserved for images of saints.
"I want a feel of the atmosphere in Rome, even if I am thousands of miles away," said state worker Elizabeth Bautista. "I want to see the Pope for the last time."
In communist Vietnam, with eight million Catholics, church leaders in Hanoi had used loudspeakers to tell worshippers the funeral was being shown on a screen at St Joseph's Cathedral.
Churches in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial hub, held Masses coinciding with the burial.
Crown Prince Naruhito, heir to the throne of mainly Buddhist Japan, laid flowers during a memorial service at St Mary's Cathedral in Tokyo.