Agence France Presse — English
April 12, 2005 Tuesday 5:18 PM GMT
Thousands expected to visit simple papal tomb
VATICAN CITY April 12
White lilies, their fluted petals like a nun’s coif, have been placed
at the head of the John Paul II’s tomb in St Peter’s crypt, which is
to be opened to the public shortly after dawn on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims, many of them Poles who have remained
in Rome since the pope’s funeral last Friday, are expected to visit
the tomb in the coming days.
With talk of early sainthood for the late pope swirling about the
Vatican, the site is sure to join the Sistine Chapel and Vatican
museum as a regular stop on Rome pilgrimages.
Around 100 cardinals filed past the tomb on Tuesday, bowing their
heads in solemn acknowledgement of their former leader, after a
memorial mass for the pope.
Immediately afterwards, the Polish nuns from the pope’s household
knelt before the tomb in prayer. Earlier, Sister Nirmala, the head of
Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity order, visited the grotto.
What tourists will see is a simple white slab of Carrara marble
marking the spot where John Paul II was laid to rest.
It is set into an alcove in the vaulted crypt in the bowels of St
Peter’s Basilica, a perpetual red oil lamp burning at its foot, the
lilies bursting from a profusion of green at its head.
The slab bears simple markings in Latin, “Ioannus Paulus PP II” with
the dates of his pontificate underneath, 16 X 1978 – 2 IV 2005. The
pope left instructions that he wanted to be buried in the earth, and
not in a sarcophagus like all but one of his neighbours, Paul VI.
Set into the wall above is a marble relief of a Madonna and Child, in
reference to the pope’s particular devotion to the Virgin Mary, whom
he credited with miraculously saving his life by diverting a would-be
assassin’s bullet from his heart in 1981.
Though the crypt contains the remains of 62 pontiffs, John Paul II
lies closest to two women, — Queen Cristina of Sweden, who abdicated
after converting to Catholicism, and Queen Charlotte of Cyprus,
Jerusalem and Armenia who died in 1487.
In an ornate, gilded gallery a few metres (yards) away lie the
remains of St Peter, the apostle, the first leader of the Church,
personally appointed by Jesus.
To reach the John Paul II’s tomb, pilgrims will have to pass by those
of his immediate predecessors John Paul I and Paul VI.
The crypt is to be opened to the public at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) on
Wednesday. Vatican sources said pilgrims would not be allowed to
bring flowers, fearing that the small space could quickly be covered.