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Pope’s funeral on
Friday
Cardinals gather to
arrange Pope’s funeral
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Charles postpones
wedding to Saturday
Camilla to become
Princess of Wales: report
Musharraf's claim on
army disputed
Tokyo starts
women-only subway cars
8 militants killed in
gunbattle
Idol stolen from
Pashupatinath temple
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Pope’s body moved to St Peter’s Basilica Vatican City, April 4 Applause rose from the tens of thousands of mourners in St Peter’s Square when 12 pall bearers, flanked by Swiss Guards in red-plumed helmets, carried the late pontiff on a crimson platform through the Bronze Door onto the piazza and into the basilica in a cloud of incense. The procession, to the backdrop of priests chanting the Litany of the Saints, began at the Sala Clementina, where John Paul had lain in state since Sunday. Televised by Vatican TV, the procession moved slowly through the frescoed halls of the Apostolic Palace, giving the general public a rare view of the inner sanctums of the Vatican. Before the procession began, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo the camerlengo, or chamberlain, responsible for running church affairs following the pope’s death said prayers and blessed the Pope’s body with holy water as chanting echoed off the walls of the ornate Vatican hall. Images of the procession were shown on giant screens in St Peter’s Square and on the main avenue toward the basilica, where more than 100,000 pilgrims, mourners and tourists solemnly watched. Members of the College of Cardinals, the red-capped princes of the church, accompanied the procession, as well as bishops and other prelates. They went slowly through the frescoed halls as a choir chanted, moving along the Scala Nobile, the First Loggia, the Sala Ducale the Sala Regia. Emerging through the Bronze Door, the procesion moved across St Peter’s Square toward the baslica’s central doors to applaue, an Italian gesture of respect. Once inside, Jon Paul’s body was placed on a platform before the main altar and Martinez again blessed it with holy water and incense. Martinz then presided over a Latin, ritual-filled prayer service. The cardinals paid ther respects, after which the public began viewing the body. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Avarro-Valls said today that the basilica would remain open overnight to allow the throngs of people to pay their respects. “I would like to tell him how much I love him,’’ said Lorenzo Cardone, a 9-year-old boy who was in line with his parents waiting to enter the basilica. Sister Emma, a 76-year-old Italian nun, said the Pope deserved such an outpouring of love. Looking at the line around her, she said he deserved it, “as he has walked such long distances for the others.’’ “Every step I take is nothing compared (with what he did),’’ said the nun. “It’s a sacrifice I am willing to do.’’ — AP
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Pope’s funeral on
Friday
Vatican City, April 4 Chief spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the announcement after the College of Cardinals met for 2 1/2 hours in its first gathering ahead of a secret vote later this month to elect a successor to John Paul. Navarro-Valls
said John Paul would “almost surely” be buried in the tomb where
Pope John XXIII lay before he was brought up on to the main floor of the
Basilica. That Pope, who died in 1963, was moved after his 2000 beatification because so many pilgrims wanted to visit his tomb, and the grotto is in a cramped underground space. Archbishop Josef Clemens, secretary of the Vatican office for lay people and a former aide to top Vatican cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said not all the cardinal electors had arrived in Rome in time to attend the first session. There
had been speculation that the Pope might have left orders to be buried
in his native Poland, but Navarro-Valls said John Paul “did not show
any such wish.” Poles have hoped that the Pope’s heart may be
placed in Wavel Cathedral in Krakow, where Polish saints and royalty are
buried. Asked if this was ruled out by burial in St Peter’s, Navarro-Valls
did not directly reply, saying he was merely transmitting information on
decisions taken by the cardinals. Under Vatican tradition, Friday is the latest the funeral could have been held. Up to 2 million pilgrims are expected to converge on Rome for the 10 AM (0130 IST) service. Meanwhile,
impromptu memorials to Pope John Paul II sprang up in the center of St
Peter’s Square today, with street lamps covered in flowers, icons and
handwritten messages pinned up with multicolored candle wax. One note,
which carried a recent photo of John Paul II lifting his hands to bless
the faithful and a small Nigerian flag, read: “Pope John Paul II, we
love you. May your gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen!!” Pinned
up among pictures of saints and rosaries were messages written on train
tickets or pieces of tissue, while flowers poked out from of the holes
of the iron lamp posts. Among them were farewell notes and children’s
drawings. “Goodbye, father, hero, friend,” said one letter, written
in red in a chldlike hand. Some had arrived to see John Paul’s body,
which was due to go on public display in St Peter’s Basilica later
today, two days after the pontiff’s death. “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, who arrived
from northern Ialy in a group of 50 to pay her respects to the pope. Overnight,
a few people slept under the colonnade surronding 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 consecutive night. At the basilica, the Swiss Guards, normally dressed in distinctive purple-gold-and-red uniforms, wore lack cloaks. On
Sunday, tens of thousands stood silently shoulder-to-shoulder at a Mass
for the Pope. — AP |
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Cardinals gather to
arrange Pope’s funeral
Vatican City, April 4 The
body of Pope John Paul, who died on Saturday ending a historic but
sometimes divisive papacy spanning 26 years, will be taken to St Peter’s
Basilica later in the day for public viewing. News of his death has brought the red-hatted princes of the Church rushing to Rome, their minds already turning to the conclave set for later this month that will elect a new man to run the 110-crore member Church. US
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said as he left Washington yesterday that it
was an “extraordinary responsibility’’. “It’s awesome.
And in a very special way, you have to get yourself up to it,’’ he
told reporters. Up to 2 lakh worshippers gathered in St Peter’s
Square yesterday to hear the Pope’s own words read out at a Requiem
Mass for the world’s best known religious leader, who helped topple
communism and stamped a rigid orthodoxy on his Church. “It is
love which converts hearts and gives peace,’’ said the text, which
was read out by an archbishop. Inside the Vatican, the Pope’s
corpse, clad in crimson and white vestments, was put on view for the
world by Vatican TV. His face clearly showed signs of the physical
suffering that racked him in the final days of his life. Personal aides, cardinals, bishops, nuns, dignitaries and Vatican employees filed past the man they had served and loved for more than a quarter of a century. Hundreds of thousands of faithful will pay their respects when his body is transferred to the cavernous basilica on Monday before the funeral, which many believe will be held on Friday. Roman authorities are braced for as many as 20 lakh mourners, including more than 100 heads of state, in the largest such event the city has seen. Tens of thousands took to the streets of his native Poland for open-air masses and flags in communist Cuba and above the Arab League headquarters in Cairo flew at half mast. “This
Pope will go down as John Paul the Great,’’ said the Archbishop of
Accra, Charles Palmer-Buckle, one of the bishops promoted on March 30 in
John Paul’s last round of appointments. “With him, there
were no shades of grey. It was either black or white, especially in the
area of morality.’’ But this uncompromising stance alienated many Catholics, especially in the developed world, who often ignored his unyielding views on sexual morality. Some Catholics hope the next Pope will prove more liberal. JERUSALEM:
In lashing rain, hundreds of mourners bore candles and recited prayers
through Jerusalem’s ancient cobbled streets in mourning for Pope John
Paul. Led by torch bearers, the worshippers yesterday marched along the Via Dolorosa, the long path which Christians believe Jesus marched to his crucifixion bearing the cross on his back. The
Pope made a landmark pilgrimage in 2000 to the Holy Land and has been
hailed by both Israelis and Arabs as a man who sought to heal ancient
wounds in West Asia. — Reuters |
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Charles postpones
wedding to Saturday
London, April 4 The heir to the British throne cut short his skiing holiday in Switzerland today and flew back to London so that he and Parker Bowles could attend a commemoration service for the pontiff in London's Westminster Abbey. "As a mark of respect, His Royal Highness and Ms Parker Bowles have decided to postpone their wedding until Saturday," said a spokeswoman at the Clarence House, the prince's office. He will be Queen Elizabeth's representative in Rome. The change in timing could help resolve protocol problems not only for the prince but for others in the British establishment, including Prime Minister Tony Blair and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, is due to officiate at a service of blessing for Charles and Camilla after their civil ceremony wedding. Blair has already put off today's expected announcement of a May 5 election out of respect for the Pope, who died on Saturday aged 84. Charles' wedding plans have been dogged from the outset by unexpected snarl-ups. The
venue had to be switched in a mixup over marriage licenses,
constitutional experts questioned the legality of a civil ceremony and
the Queen has declined to attend the civil ceremony. — Reuters |
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Bush to head US team
at funeral
Washington, April 4 Administration
officials were scrambling to retool the president’s schedule for late
this week. Mr Bush was scheduled to be in South Carolina on Thursday and
give a speech to US troops at Fort Hood, Texas, on Friday. —
Reuters |
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Pope’s body on
public view
Vatican City, April 4 Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the body was transferred to the Basilica starting at 1700 hrs (1500 GMT) and pilgrims had begun filing past it at around 1800 hrs (1600 GMT). He
confirmed that the Pope would be buried under the Basilica, as is
customary for deceased pontiffs, following the funeral which is set to
begin at 1000 hrs (0800 GMT) on Friday. — Reuters |
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Camilla to become
Princess of Wales: report
London, April 4 The title would be confirmed in a parliamentary statement tomorrow in response to a question from Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay, the Sunday Times reported. The Princess of Wales title remained closely linked in the public mind to Princess Diana, it noted. Parker
Bowles has made it known that she wants to be called the Duchess of
Cornwall, taking another of Charles’s titles, after her marriage. It
is planned that this will be changed to Princess Consort on his
succession. However, Chris Leslie, Constitutional Affairs Minister,
would confirm tomorrow that she would be given all her husband’s
titles, the paper said. The list includes Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Earl of Chester, Lord of the Isles and Great Steward of Scotland. Senior government sources said it would take an act of Parliament to change the law for Parker Bowles not to accept the titles. A
spokesman for the Constitutional Affairs Department said: “There will
be a statement in response to a parliamentary written answer on Monday. “It
is simple; she automatically takes the title Princess of Wales and all
other titles that go with her marriage to the Prince of Wales,” the
paper quoted him as saying. — PTI |
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Musharraf's claim on
army disputed
Lahore, April 4 In a statement here on Sunday, he said 831 officers of the army, navy and the air force were working in federal and provincial departments. Of them 35 were Lieut-Generals and Major-General, seven Air Marshal/ Air Vice-Marshals, 20 Admirals and Vice-Admirals, 102 Brigadiers, 205 Colonels, 208 Majors and 150 officers of other ranks. The ARD leader also gave details of the departments where these officials were performing their duties. The statement said he had got even the names of these officials and would release them to the media at an appropriate time. The
ARD leader said it was not true that the Prime Minister and the Cabinet
enjoyed all powers. ‘‘The fact is that General Musharraf, corps
commanders and his nominated people are calling the shots.’’ He said
even the Parliament had no power to decide any issue. The Prime
Minister, he said, had no authority to appoint ministers. He said
General Musharraf was in uniform but was addressing public meetings
arranged by the PML-Q. ‘‘Is it not the involvement of politics by
the military?’’ Munir said in a parliamentary system neither the
COAS nor the President were supposed to involve themselves in politics.
He said General Musharraf's activities negated the parliamentary system. |
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Tokyo starts
women-only subway cars
Tokyo, April 4 A women’s car during evening rush hour has been in
operation since July 2002 on the Saikyo Line, whose stops include Japan’s
busiest station Shinjuku, the entertainment district of Shibuya and
central Tokyo Station. A police report in February said groping on Tokyo trains had tripled over the past eight years. It urged rail firms to set up more women-only cars. Other big cities in Japan such as Osaka have already introduced women-only cars during morning rush hour. But Tokyo presented more logistical problems due to its large number of lines, which carry a million people a day. The
police said 2,201 cases of groping and more serious sexual assault took
place last year on trains, with one-third of the victims being high
school girls. The cases led to 1,886 arrests, with offenders’ ages
ranging from 14 to 80. — AFP |
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8 militants killed in
gunbattle
Riyadh, April 4 Saudi commanders said the death toll among the militants remained unclear as security personnel had yet to enter parts of the complex where they were holed up in Al-Rass. They
said hree militants had been killed since the gunbattle erupted early
yesterday but Saudi-owned media put the toll at as high as eight. —
AFP |
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Idol stolen from
Pashupatinath temple
Kathmandu, April 4 The two-and-a-half-foot tall Shankar Narayan idol was stolen last night from the heavily guarded temple located in the city. Pashupatinath temple is one of the seven Unesco World Heritage Sites. Even though a police beat is situated nearby, nobody came to know about the theft until a construction worker reported it to the police. "I noticed that the idol was not in its place at midnight and I immediately informed the police," the worker told reporters today. The idol was placed on the right side of the temple's main gate. Besides the five-member police beat, the Pashupati Area Development Trust has deployed 18 security personnel for safety of the temple. The
police said they are questioning 30 persons within connection with the
theft. — IANS |
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