Pope Laid to Rest

Following the Liturgy of the Eucharist at the funeral mass for Pope John Paul II, the crowd of over 100,000 packed into St. Peter's Square broke into applause for over five minutes and cheered, "Giovanni Paolo!" Celebrant Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger then gave his final prayer for the Pope and all the faithful gathered sang:

In paradisum deducant te angeli; In tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat et cum Lazaro quondam paupere Aeternam habeas requiem.

"May the Angels lead you into Paradise; may the Martyrs receive you at your coming, and take you to Jerusalem the holy city. May the choirs of the Angels receive you, and may you, with the once poor Lazarus, have rest everlasting."

Following this, papal gentlemen fulfilling their duties as pallbearers carried the coffin containing the remains of the Pope back into St. Peter's Basilica and down into the crypt for the burial rites celebrated in private by only senior clerics and friends of the Holy Father. He is being interred alongside St. Peter and many others before him who served as Vicars of Christ. The wooden coffin is placed in a zinc coffin, which is placed in an oak coffin, which is finally interred under a marble slab. The final hymn, Salve Regina, is then sung by the few who are present:

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy,
Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To you do we cry poor banished children of Eve,
To you do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate your eyes of mercy toward us.
And after this, our exile,
Show us the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.