Hundreds Of Thousands View Pope

Some waited eight hours for a brief goodbye. Others, weary and disappointed, gave up. Several hundred thousand pilgrims prayed and chatted as they stood in line in the hot sun for a glimpse of John Paul II's crimson-robed body at St. Peter's basilica.

CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod trudged through the crowd with one Marina Esposito. She was prepared for a long day of waiting, but eight hours later, she said, " We have four or five hours more, if we're lucky."

Civil defense agents in orange jumpsuits passed out bottles of water. First aid teams lifted a woman onto a stretcher after she fainted. Many people shielded themselves from the sun with umbrellas.

Inside the cool, echoing basilica, ushers moved the crowds down the marble aisles quickly, and some pilgrims said they were surprised their farewell had passed so quickly.

Federica Marinucci relived the moment with a video she took inside the basilica using her cell-phone camera.

"Security keeps telling you, 'Go, go, go,'" she said Tuesday. "There wasn't time to say a prayer."

The 29-year-old waitress said she had hoped to camp out on the piazza in an overnight vigil, but police had blocked off most of the square to set up wide metal barricades through which the crowds moved toward the church.

People no longer had access to the impromptu shrines covered with farewell letters, candles, stuffed animals and flowers left since John Paul's death on Saturday.

The line snaked through the piazza, down the wide modern boulevard leading to the Vatican and into the shady side streets nearby.

One 73-year-old woman who had stood in line for four hours was about halfway there.

"Look at me, I don't need a rest," said Alviana Tuzi, smiling broadly. I'm doing this from the heart. ... Let's hope we make it."

Crowds swelled Monday before John Paul's body was carried solemnly from the Vatican's Apostolic Palace into the basilica to go on public view.

About 600,000 people viewed his body Tuesday, and the same number was expected Wednesday, the city's Civil Protection Department said.

The Vatican Monday said it expected up to two million people to flock to Rome. Now, as CBS News Correspondent John Roberts reports, that many pilgrims might go from Poland alone.

Dominic Chai, a Korean living in London, was one of many who had waited more than eight hours.

"I will miss his smile," he said.

John Paul will be laid to rest Friday in the grotto of St. Peter's, alongside popes of centuries past near the traditional tomb of the first pope, St. Peter. Some predict the number of pilgrims flowing into Rome may match the city's own 3 million residents.

Meanwhile, The College of Cardinals met for a second day of talks Tuesday to prepare for the conclave to elect a successor to Pope John Paul II as tens of thousands of mourners streamed past the late pontiff's crimson-robed body as it lay in state in St. Peter's Basilica.

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said after the meeting concluded that the cardinals hadn't yet decided on a date for the conclave, which according to church law must occur between 15 and 20 days after the death of a pope.

He also said John Paul's body hadn't been embalmed, as those of recent popes have been, but that it had been "prepared" for public viewing.

The cardinals have not yet read John Paul's spiritual testament, he said. They spent Tuesday continuing to work out details of Friday's funeral, in which John Paul will be laid to rest with regal pageantry near the tomb which is traditionally believed to be that of the first pope, St. Peter.

Navarro-Valls said 91 of the 183 cardinals were in Rome as of Tuesday. Only 117 of them — those under the age of 80 — can vote in a conclave.

Ten-year-old Francesco Conti, who traveled from Tuscany with his father, wore his long white altar-boy gown as he climbed onto a potted palm tree to get a glimpse of the basilica. They didn't have the energy to wait in line.

"There's just too many people," Conti said. His father, Marco Conti, said: "Instead we're just going to stay here and pray."

Jet-lagged, one couple from Malibu, California, stepped out of line on Monday. They didn't plan to try again Tuesday.

"Are you kidding?" said Caroline Carradine, laughing. She was on vacation with her husband, a theme park designer for the Walt Disney Co., who pointed out the great care the Vatican went through to make the wait bearable, with huge screens broadcasting prayers and music for people in line.

"It's classic Italian: They have risen to the occasion and made it just beautiful," said Chris Carradine, who pays attention to such details for his own work. "They transformed the whole district into a giant basilica."