People queue for several hours to see the Pope

The only empty space in Rome yesterday was - in an irony that may well have brought a familiar smile to the late Pope's radiant face - the centre of St Peter's Square, which was off limits to the huge crowds that snaked around it in a queue that stretched all the way back to the River Tiber.

They were there in their droves - and going by the number of red and white flags it seemed like half of Poland had come - to pay their last respects to Pope John Paul II who died last Saturday.

Rather late in the day two elderly Polish women were circling St Peter's Basilica asking where they had to go to see the Pope; the reluctant reply was to the back of the queue which would take them at least 30 minutes to reach from there.

Pilgrims had been queuing for six hours and more under the baking Roman sunshine to catch a glimpse of their spiritual leader. But it was clearly too much for some as before our eyes we saw nuns collapsing and being stretchered off for medical assistance. Embodying almost everything that the Pope stood for, there were people coming to see him suffering from almost every physical ailment imaginable and varying in age from grandson to grandfather.

Fr Eddie Zammit, who arrived in Rome on Tuesday morning, has certainly not regretted the effort:

"When I saw the Pope, it felt like being in the presence of a saint. In the area around him there is a climate of prayer and meditation.

"The huge crowds are coming through in an orderly manner and the atmosphere is very sober but festive. It is not like a football match or a feast but there is a sense of celebration when they chant his name," Fr Zammit said.

He also managed to have an encounter with the Pope's most trusted right hand man for the past 48 years, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who held the Holy Father's hand as he was dying: "I shook his hand and told him the people of Malta and Gozo were praying for the Pope and he said 'thank you.'"

The Italian authorities are doing their level best to make this invasion of nations as smooth as possible and the queue is orderly and relatively fast moving. At selected crossing points there is a view of a rare gap, until the gate is opened and the cheering crowds are let through in an instant before the opening is visible once more. It is a scene aptly reminiscent of Moses parting the waters.

Pilgrims are given water but there is little opportunity for them to pass it when they have the need as once in the queue there is no getting out. But people are remarkable calm, soothed perhaps by the readings from the Pope's encyclicals over a loud speaker with only a buzzing helicopter above and lots of security men to mar the scene.

Inside the walls of Vatican city, out of sight of the crowds, Mgr Dziwisz was yesterday receiving cardinals, bishops and dignitaries who had special access to the Pope's temporary resting place to pay their last respects.

Some cardinals were also taking the opportunity to take a look at the building where they will be staying for the conclave to elect the new Pope after tomorrow's funeral.