In an age-old ceremony conducted almost entirely in Latin and accompanied by Gregorian chant, Pope John Paul II was laid to rest in St Peter's Basilica yesterday. To the strains of the Magnificat, with the Sant'Andrea bell tolling and the huge crowd applauding, the three-hour ceremony ended on an emotional note as the Pope's coffin was held aloft in a final salute on the steps of the basilica before it disappeared inside, to be carried down to his last resting place in the crypt below. Paddy Agnew reports from Rome.
Bearing testimony to the charismatic appeal of the Polish Pope were up to two million mourners in Rome, including many of his compatriots, as well as a galaxy of the world's religious and secular leaders.
Among those who attended were: President George Bush; British prime minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury; President Jacques Chirac; King Abdullah II of Jordan; Arab League secretary Amr Mussa; Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I; Syrian president Bashar al-Assad; Iranian president Mohammed Khatami; Palestinian prime minister Abu Ala; UN secretary general Kofi Annan; European Commission president José Manuel Barroso; and Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe.
Also in attendance were representatives of the world's major religions including Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Jews; as well as Orthodox churchmen from Bulgaria, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine; and representatives from other Christian denominations including the Lutheran, Baptist and Methodist churches. Representing Ireland were President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
At two minutes past 10, the cypress-wood coffin of John Paul II emerged from the main door of the basilica, borne aloft by 12 black-clad Vatican sediari and escorted by two Swiss guards.
As soon as the coffin appeared on the steps of the basilica, it was greeted by the first of many rounds of applause from the vast crowd in St Peter's Square.
Moving slowly to the strains of the Requiem aeternam, the pallbearers came down the steps of the basilica and laid the coffin on a carpet in front of the altar.
Presiding over the funeral Mass was the Deacon of the College of Cardinals and long-time confidant of John Paul II, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
He began: "Deus omnium fidelium pastor et rector, qui Ioannem Paulum. (O Lord, Father and shepherd to all humanity, concede unto your servant John Paul the reward promised to the faithful ministers of the Gospel)."
In his funeral homily, Cardinal Ratzinger spoke of the sense of "sadness, yet at the same time of joyful hope", with which "we bury his remains in the earth".
He spoke of a Holy Father who was "a priest to the last", prompting an especially warm round of applause when he referred to "the sufferings of his final months".
In his concluding remarks, Cardinal Ratzinger said: "None of us can ever forget how in that last Easter Sunday of his life, the Holy Father, marked by suffering, came once more to the window of the Apostolic Palace and one last time gave his blessing Urbi et Orbi. We can be sure that our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the Father's house, that he sees us and blesses us."
On a greyish, windy day, the ceremony went off without any apparent hitch.
Following Vatican tradition, the Swiss guards dipped their halberds, got down on one knee and saluted with the left hand during the Eucharist.
As 320 priests from the parishes of Rome went out among the crowd to distribute communion, they encountered a number of banners reading Santo Subito (Make him a saint now).
Two of the most poignant moments in the ceremony came after communion when the Litany of the Saints boomed across St Peter's Square as 165 red-clad cardinals paid their last respects.
Minutes later the patriarchs of the oriental churches recited their Greek prayers for the dead, in solemn but ancient-sounding tones. "For you, O Christ, O God, are the resurrection, the way and the repose for your servant John Paul, Pope of Rome, who has gone to sleep."