Rome Prepares For Pope's Funeral

Royalty, political leaders and church leaders will attend Pope John Paul's funeral Friday.

It's expected to be one of the largest Western religious gatherings of modern times. Millions gathered in Rome will view it from monitors.

Some four million pilgrims have crowded into Rome.

It's believed that nearly two million mourners passed through the Basilica since Monday to view John Paul's remains.

As dignitaries poured into the city, security was increased. It includes surveillance flights by NATO aircraft.

The funeral for Pope John Paul II begins Friday with an intimate ceremony attended only by high-ranking prelates, who place a pouch of silver and bronze medals and a scrolled account of his life in his coffin.

Royalty or dignitaries from more than 80 countries wait outside when the private rites begin at 10 a.m. at the Vatican, which is 4 a.m. on the East Coast of the United States.

John Paul's longtime private secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, and the master of the liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Piero Marini, place a white silk veil over the pope's face before the coffin is closed.

The funeral Mass, scheduled to last more than two hours, is celebrated by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, deacon of the College of Cardinals, and joined by the cardinals and patriarchs of the Eastern Rite Churches, all in red vestments.

Based on the Vatican's book of liturgical ceremonies, published in 2000, the Mass begins with an introductory hymn, "Eternal Rest Grant Him, O Lord," followed by the singing of Psalm 64 (65) "To You We Owe Our Hymn of Praise, O God of Zion."

Although civil officials and the Vatican said they had no confirmed count on the number of mourners who viewed the body since Monday, it was believed to be close to 2 million.

A crew of Civil Defense department volunteers, wearing bright yellow vests, were among the last to be allowed inside the basilica before the towering bronze doors were closed.

Over the past four days the volunteers distributed water and helped the pilgrims waiting in line to enter the church, some of them for as long as 24 hours. Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni shook hands and chatted with John Paul's private secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, in the final minutes before the doors closed.

Also Thursday, on the eve of John Paul II's pageantry-filled funeral, the Vatican released a journal of sorts that he wrote in over his decades in office. Called his last testament, in it he tells of tormented times for himself and his church, and wondered at the turn of the millennium when he turned 80 "how long I must continue this service." Read the translated text of his will and testament.

The document, written in several entries over 22 years, provides extraordinary insight into the pope's thinking in the twilight of his life as he reflected on the possibility of resignation, about death and his legacy, and as he prayed for the "necessary strength" to continue his mission.

"The times in which we live are unutterably difficult and disturbed," he wrote in 1980. "The path of the church has also become difficult and tense ... both for the faithful and for pastors."

John Paul's funeral Friday promised to be one of the largest Western religious gatherings of modern times, conducted with the pomp of an ancient liturgy and attended by royalty, political power brokers and multitudes of the faithful.

Throngs of pilgrims — the hardiest of some 4 million who flooded Rome — were rewarded for holding out after police closed off the line Wednesday night waiting to view John Paul's remains in St. Peter's Basilica. In the morning, the barriers were lifted for more mourners as the numbers who said a personal farewell approached 2 million since the body went on public view Monday.

Pilgrims staked out positions with sleeping bags and blankets just outside St. Peter's Square, getting as close they could to the scene of the funeral — even though they will see little more than the same images on giant television screens as could be seen elsewhere in the city.

Rome groaned under the weight of visitors. Side streets were clogged in a permanent pedestrian rush hour, mostly by kids with backpacks. Tent camps sprang up to take the spillover from hotels. Hawkers jacked up prices of everything from bottled water to papal trinkets.

"You really have to love the pope to be willing to do this," said Nathanael Valdenaire, a young Frenchman who slept on the pavement in a sleeping bag alongside his sisters.

"What really struck me, is all kinds of people, young, old, from all countries of the world, together in peace, in prayer. The music that is coming out of St. Peter's square creates a tone of prayer throughout the whole area," said CBS News Analyst Father Paul Robichaud.

As dignitaries poured into the city, Rome's security agencies — bolstered by NATO surveillance aircraft high overhead — cranked up their defenses against everything from terrorism to unruly crowds.

Rome authorities planned to lock down the city. Starting Thursday night, vehicle traffic was banned from the city center. Air space was closed, and anti-aircraft batteries outside town were on alert. Naval ships patrolled both the Mediterranean coast and the Tiber River near Vatican City, the tiny sovereign city-state encompassed by the Italian capital.

President Bush was joined by his father, former President George H.W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton in giving

The fact that Mr. Bush is here is an indication of just how extraordinary John Paul II's contribution to the world was and how important America's 66 million Catholics are to the White House, reports CBS News Correspondent John Roberts.

The U.S. delegation was to be joined Friday by Prince Charles, who postponed his own wedding by one day to honor the pope; by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan; and by representatives of more than 80 countries. Jewish and Muslim religious leaders will be there, along with Israel's foreign minister and the head of the Arab League.

In his testament, John Paul said he left no material property and asked that his longtime private secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, burn all his personal notes.

It mentioned only two living people: Dziwisz and the retired chief rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff, who welcomed him to the city's synagogue in 1986 in a historic gesture of reconciliation between Roman Catholics and Jews.

The pope made several entries in his testament, starting the year after his election in 1978. The final entry was in 2000, when he was in pain and suffering Parkinson's disease.

Each was written in Polish during Lent, the period of reflection before Easter.

In the final entry, he appeared to consider stepping aside. "Now, in the year during which my age reaches 80 years, it is necessary to ask if it is not the time to repeat the words of the biblical Simeon, "Nunc dimittis." The reference is to the passage, "Now Master you may let your servant go."

He reflected that he had been saved from death in a 1981 assassination attempt "in a miraculous way," and said his fate was even more in the hands of God.

"From this moment it belongs to Him all the more. I hope He will help me to recognize up to what point I must continue this service," said the testament.

In an early entry, he scratched in the margins that he wanted to be buried "in the bare earth, not a tomb." Accordingly, John Paul will be placed in the grottoes under St. Peter's Basilica.

In 1982, the pope considered the possibility of a funeral in his native Poland. Three years later, however, he left the site of his burial in the hands of the cardinals.

The same entry worried about the safety of the church and of his own country in the days before the fall of the communist regime.

"In some countries ... the church is undergoing a period of such persecution as to be in no way lesser than that of early centuries; indeed, it surpasses them in its degree of cruelty and hatred," he wrote. "And apart from this, many people disappear innocently, even in this country in which we are living."

At the end of the March 2000 entry, John Paul remembered his family, his childhood and his early priesthood in Poland.

"As the end of my life approaches I return with my memory to the beginning, to my parents, to my brother, to the sister (I never knew because she died before my birth), to the parish in Wadowice where I was baptized, to that city I love, to my peers, friends from elementary school, high school and the university, up to the time of the occupation when I was a worker, and then in the parish of Niegowic, then St. Florian's in Krakow, to the pastoral ministry of academics, ... to Krakow and to Rome. ... to the people who were entrusted to me in a special way by the Lord.

"To all I want to say just one thing: "May God reward you."'