Cardinals first to file past Pope's tomb

The men who will choose the next Pope filed past the tomb of Pope John Paul II yesterday, the first of a multitude expected to pay their respects over coming weeks.

The red-robed cardinals, who will open the conclave to elect the next Pope in the frescoed Sistine Chapel next Monday, led a solemn procession to visit the Pope's tomb, queueing like many faithful will do when the crypt under St Peter's Basilica is reopened today.

Two-by-two, the cardinals stood at the foot of the Pope's burial site, once occupied by the tomb of Pope John XXIII, who died in 1963. His body was later moved into the basilica itself.

Vatican officials will reopen the crypt from 7 a.m. today to let pilgrims file past the Pope's tomb covered in a white marble slab, with a simple candle at its foot and potted plant at its head.

Italian authorities had asked the Vatican to keep the burial site shut for a few days, fearing the crowds that had filled Rome for the Pontiff's funeral on Friday would not leave, one Vatican source said.

The Vatican press office said yesterday more than three million pilgrims had travelled to Rome and calculated that some two million had filed past the Pope's lying-in-state in the basilica.