St Peter's Square was closed overnight so it could be prepared for the funeral which begins at 1000 (0900 BST). The basilica also finally shut after three days when some two million filed through to see the Pope lying in state. Rome's population has almost doubled in the past week as millions descended for the funeral. Hundreds of millions of people will watch the event on TV. Officials in Rome have urged pilgrims to stay in special tented areas on the outskirts of the city and watch the funeral on video screens. But many have defied the appeal and are camping out in sleeping bags and blankets beside St Peter's Square, in the hope of being first when the crash barriers come down at dawn. "We don't want to watch on television," said Serena, from Naples, who has spent two nights in the open with her husband and two daughters. "We want to be here. We love him. If you lose a friend, a big friend, what do you do?" Unprecedented scale Hundreds of thousands of people from John Paul II's homeland, Poland, are arriving in Rome, and many more will follow the funeral on their televisions and radios at home. Almost every Pole has been given the day off work. Theatres, banks and supermarkets will be closed and even rival football supporters have declared a willingness to end their feuds.
It will be a complicated mix of public and private ceremony, religious and political, says the BBC's Jill McGivering in Rome. Organisers have had to balance the demands of public crowds who want to be as close as possible to the ceremonies, with the need to provide security for the many heads of state and dignitaries. Airspace over the city is restricted and anti-aircraft missiles have been prepared. Thousands of extra army and police have been deployed. Most cars will be denied access to the centre of Rome. Requiem mass Among those attending are US President George W Bush, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who leads the world's largest Catholic country. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei - both of them Muslims - are also taking part.
"I would say that so far we are doing well," one city official told the BBC on Thursday. "But we cross the fingers until tomorrow night, or let's say Saturday at 12 o'clock, and then we can go to sleep." The three-hour ceremony will be conducted by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, which will begin electing the Pope's successor on 18 April. At the end of the requiem mass, the Pope will be buried in the crypt below St Peter's Basilica, under a simple stone slab. The 84-year-old pontiff's last will and testament was made public on Thursday, and indicated that he had considered resigning in 2000, when he reached 80. The 15-page document - translated from the Pope's native Polish into Italian - was written over the course of his 26-year pontificate. The will thanks other faiths, as well as scientists, artists and politicians, for their support throughout his life. | |||||
I'm not leaving behind any property of which it should be necessary to take care of... Personal notes should be burned 
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