Pilgrims Flock To Rome

Papal pilgrims are already pouring into Rome as the city braces for a huge influx of tourism this week. Officials expect up to two million people will converge on the city to pay their last respects to the pope — many to attend his funeral Friday morning in St. Peter's Square.

To cope with the crowds, Italian authorities will add 29 extra trains and are setting up campsites on the city's edge for those who cannot find or afford a hotel, reports CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey.

Rome's Mayor Walter Veltroni says, "it will be a moment without precedent." He told a radio interviewer Monday that he expects Rome to "grind to a halt" during this time.

In normal times, early April would be a lull in tourism, after the rush of Easter and before the summer holidays. But consumer groups estimated Monday that local businesses would earn at least $122.5 million in two weeks. The group accused restaurants and shops near the Vatican of boosting prices to take advantage of the expected two million tourists.

Rome's population of three million people might see a major financial boost, but not all residents are beaming.

"As is often the case, exploitation is always around the corner, and doesn't stop even when faced with such strong and dramatic events as the death of the Holy Father," said Carlo Rienzi, of the consumer watchdog group Codacons.

The mayor also says maximum security arrangements will be put in place to guarantee the safety of world leaders, including President Bush.

More than 6,000 extra police have been deployed. They include snipers, bomb-disposal experts and motorcycle escorts. About 1,500 officers will be assigned to the foreign dignitaries, including President Bush.

However, there is no imposing police presence in St. Peter's Square or in the tourist areas of Rome. If snipers are on rooftops, they are not visible.

Police did clear mourners from a large area of the square until the pope's remains were inside the basilica for public viewing, and dozens of uniformed officers walked with the crowd as people filed past his remains.

Security in general was tightened after the assassination attempt on the pope in 1981, and again after the 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

The great square, which when jammed to capacity can hold 250,000 people, is already being readied for the event. Authorities were estimating that well over 500,000 people will try to cram into St. Peter's Square on Friday alone for the funeral.

The VIPs, heads of state and government, will have special places near the front. More than 6,000 police, a quarter of them just for the dignitaries, will be on hand.

Many of the pilgrims have already arrived. On Sunday, police said about 80,000 people attended a Mass for the pope. For many, tears eventually gave way to fond memories. Many people held up cameras and cell phones to take pictures of the ceremony on the marble steps of the basilica.

Some clutched photos of the pope as a younger, more energetic man, before illness left him grimacing and stooped. In them, he beamed, blessed babies, or led processions with a golden staff. Each time the giant screens lining the colonnades showed a close-up of John Paul's picture, the crowd applauded.

"Even if we fear we've lost a point of reference, I feel like everybody in this square is united with him in a hug," said Luca Ghizzardi, a 38-year-old nurse with a sleeping bag and a handmade peace flag at his feet.

Impromptu memorials to Pope John Paul II sprang up Monday in the center of St. Peter's Square, transforming streetlights into freeform sculptures of flowers, icons and farewell notes pinned up with candle wax.

One note carried a small Nigerian flag and a recent photo of John Paul II lifting his hands to bless the faithful. "Pope John Paul II, we love you. May your gentle soul rest in perfect peace," it said.

Others were scrawled on train tickets or scraps of tissue, tucked among pictures of saints and rosaries and accompanied by children's drawings. "Goodbye, father, hero, friend," said one letter written in a childlike hand. Flowers poked out from holes in the iron lampposts, which surround an obelisk in the center of the square.

"It's a very emotional time. It's a time everyone is pulling together, no matter what language or where they're from. He went out to the people and now the people are coming to him, and I think that's just a very telling thing," said Father Brian Dudzinski on CBS News' Early Show. Dudzinski was on a trip with church members from Indiana, expecting to see the sacred sights of Italy.

"To walk through the piazza is an extraordinary experience because the whole world is down here. I would say half the people there are young," Father Paul Robicoht, a church historian, told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "There are groups of young people singing, praying, leading chants. They're still chanting his name. So there is a great sense of spirit and of energy in the piazza."

People arrived to see John Paul's body, which was to go on public display in St. Peter's Basilica later Monday, two days after the pontiff's death. The body lay in state on Sunday for prelates, ambassadors and other dignitaries.

"We thought it was right to come because he has always loved us young people, and we want to pay back what he has done for us," said Monica Favalli, part of a group from northern Italy who came to pay their respects to the pope.

Overnight, a few people slept under the colonnade surrounding St. Peter's, and a group of Polish faithful huddled around their country's flag in the square as they stubbornly kept vigil for a third night.

At the basilica, the Swiss Guards wore black cloaks instead of their usual red and gold uniforms.

Emergency health services said they received 115 calls for assistance in St. Peter's Square on Sunday. Most were from people who had fallen or fainted. Three were life-threatening, officials said.

Michela Scrocca, a 44-year-old teacher, gazed at the windows of John Paul's former apartments and asked herself who would live there next.

"We will surely have affection for the next one as well, but this (pope) will stay in our hearts," she said.

Katja Raithel, a 29-year-old German tourist, reminisced about childhood Easter meals, when her family listened to the pope's Mass on the radio.

One 78-year-old man came to say goodbye to John Paul partly on behalf of his wife, who is in a wheelchair. Giorgio Arduini said he was not a practicing Roman Catholic but deeply felt the pope's suffering.

"He made the church more human, closer to the real people," he said.

The most emotional moment of the day was when Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, the Vatican undersecretary of state, read Sunday's noontime prayer, which John Paul had delivered throughout his pontificate.

Some in the crowd bowed their heads or fought back tears when Sandri announced that John Paul had prepared the prayer before dying. There was extended applause, and then came the pontiff's familiar words of greeting: "Dear brothers and sisters..."

Late Sunday, Vatican officials led pilgrims in the square in a rosary prayer interspersed with readings on the Resurrection from the Gospel according to St. Luke.

"It's useless to cry," said 22-year-old Simone Bellato. "We must concentrate on feeling joy. The pope has returned to his father's house."