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Thousands attend Mass for Pope
Vatican City, April 3
Pope John Paul II’s body was put on display before the world today as more than 100,000 persons packed St Peter’s Square for a huge open-air Mass in memory of their “father and shepherd”. Television images showed the body lying in state for the first time since the pontiff died yesterday, aged 84. The Pope, his face serene, was dressed in red and white vestments and a white mitre. He was laid out on a raised velvet-draped dais flanked by two Swiss guards in the Clementine Room on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace. A crucifix, crooked in an elbow, flanked his body to the left. His head, propped on velvet pillows, leaned slightly to the right. On his feet were brown leather shoes. Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, the Cardinal Camerlengo or temporary leader of the Catholic Church until the
election of a new pope, stepped forward to sprinkle holy water over John Paul II’s body and recited a funerary prayer.
Dozens of officials and cardinals of the Roman Curia, or Vatican government, lined up to file past the pope’s body in the hushed room, as well as Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and cabinet ministers. “It is true. Our soul is shaken by a painful event. Our father and shepherd, John Paul II has left us,” Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dead Pope’s Secretary of State, said at the solemn mass which he concelebrated with dozens of cardinals. “For 26 years he carried the Gospel of Christian hope to all squares around the world, teaching everyone that our death is only a passage to the heavenly fatherland,” said Sodano in his homily. Sodano, present at the Pope’s bedside as he passed away late yesterday, said the 84-year-old pontiff, who battled crippling illness for months, had died a serene death. “I was a witness to this serenity as I stood praying by the agonizing Pope’s bedside,” the 77-year-old Cardinal said, straying from his prepared text. Deeply saddened pilgrims also heard their beloved Pope’s last message to them, which was read out by an aide. “Love converts hearts and gives peace,” said the message, read out by Archbishop Leonardo Sandri. Sandri, who had become the Pope’s spokesman at public liturgies as the frail pontiff’s voice failed, said he was reading the message with “nostalgia”. The huge crowd burst into tumultuous applause as the Pope’s portrait was shown on giant screens erected around the square while the message was read out. On hearing it, many people broke into tears. “To humanity, which sometimes seems to be lost and dominated by the power of evil, selfishness and fear, the risen Lord gives the gift of his love which forgives, reconciles and reopens the soul to hope,” it added. The Mass was celebrated in the square overlooked by the Pope’s apartment, where he passed away surrounded by aides at 21:37 pm (0307 IST) the night before, and from where he made the last of his twice-weekly blessings to pilgrims last Wednesday. The Polish-born Pope’s name was greeted with tumultuous applause by the huge crowd at the beginning of the mass, attended by the entire Italian Cabinet. — AFP
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