ROME — In a procession both majestic and medieval, 12 white-gloved pallbearers carried the body of Pope John Paul II from the inner chambers of the Vatican across St. Peter's Square on Monday and laid him at the altar of the basilica where he will be buried Friday.
With slow, deliberate steps, cardinals in scarlet vestments and young priests in white tunics escorted the velvet bier as the pope moved closer to his final resting place, entering the basilica in a cloud of incense amid mournfully recited prayers.
The doors of St. Peter's church then opened to the public, and tens of thousands of people from all over the world began filing past the body. The pontiff, who died Saturday night, ending history's third-longest papal reign, will lie in state for public viewing nearly round-the-clock until Friday's funeral.
The Vatican announced that John Paul would be buried in a marble crypt beneath the basilica, where popes for centuries have been entombed, among them, tradition holds, St. Peter himself.
The transfer of the body and the details of the funeral were the first decisions to emanate from the College of Cardinals, which began meeting Monday to plot the future of the Roman Catholic Church, including, eventually, the selection of John Paul's successor.
Sixty-five cardinals, a little more than a third of the total body, convened in the Bologna Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace. In a session known as a general congregation, they swore an oath of secrecy and then set about moving the church through a period of mourning and transition.
"The 65 cardinals present have taken the most urgent decisions," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said. The remaining cardinals were to arrive later Monday and today.
With a panoply of solemn rituals unfolding, up to 2 million pilgrims and mourners are expected to flood Rome ahead of Friday's 10 a.m. service. Official delegations will be led by presidents and kings.
President Bush, the first sitting American president to attend a pope's funeral, will be among an estimated 200 heads of state and other senior foreign officials.
"It will be a moment without precedent," Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni told an Italian radio station as authorities girded for the influx, which will present vast logistical and security challenges.
Tens of thousands of people packed St. Peter's Square on Monday and watched in awe as the pope's body was carried to the basilica. Some stood on tiptoes, craned their necks and stretched to snap photographs.
