Mourners Pour into the Vatican while Cardinals Meet for Final Burial Arrangments
Mourners continued to pour into the Vatican Wednesday in their efforts to see the body of Pope John Paul II inside St. Peter’s Basilica and to pay their respects.
According to the Vatican’s estimates, up to a million people filed passed the pope’s body in the first 24 hours of viewing. Some mourners waited in line for 12 hours to see the body – if only for a few moments. By Wednesday morning, the line of mourners stretched for more than a mile behind the Vatican.
To help house the visitors, Rome Deputy Mayor Luca Odevaine said to CNN, officials have turned the site of the ancient Roman Circus Maximus into a free campground.
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Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Cardinals met for the third day Wednesday to finalize the funeral details and possibly hear John Paul’s will.
On Tuesday evening, Archbishop Piero Marini explained that John Paul’s made his wish “to be buried in the ground.” John Paul would be buried with a white silk veil on his face, his body clad in liturgical vestments and the white miter, Marini said. And in keeing with tradition, his remains will be placed inside three coffins — wood, zinc and wood — a design meant to slow down the decomposition process.
The funeral invitation list, meanwhile, extended out to nearly 200 world leaders.
To protect the funeral guests, Roman is preparing thousands of extra police, a surveillance plane, anti-aircraft missiles and a warship off the Meditation coast, according to AP.
At least 2 million people are expected for the funeral and Rome city officials were slated to meet later on Wednesday to decide whether to close shops and offices and order a total traffic ban to accommodate.
To date, some 80 people fainted in the queues for viewing the Pope’s body and had to be lifted over the barriers for medical treatment.
"People, this is a dramatic situation," security coordinator Andrea Astolsi shouted through a microphone at the crowd outside the basilica. "This is a 14 to 15 hour wait."
According to AP, a crane unloaded cases of water from a large truck. Hundreds of pilgrims were treated for fainting and dehydration over the first two days of the Pope's lying-in-state.
