page_title: Funeral of Pope John Paul II
section_title: Exposition and Lying in State
hierarchical_section_title: Funeral of Pope John Paul II / Rite of Papal Death / Exposition and Lying in State
caption_attribution_description: English: The body of Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica. At right is Daniel Scioli pictured, then vice president of Argentina.
context_page_description: The funeral of Pope John Paul II was held on 8 April 2005, six days after his death on 2 April. The funeral was followed by the novemdiales devotional in which the Catholic Church observes nine days of mourning.
  On 22 February 1996, Pope John Paul II introduced revisions to the centuries-old ceremonies surrounding papal death, repose and burial. The revisions enacted through the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis applied to his own funeral.
  Pope John Paul's funeral brought together what was, at the time, the single largest gathering in history of heads of state outside the United Nations, surpassing the 1965 funeral of Winston Churchill, only to be surpassed by the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony and the funeral of former South Africa leader Nelson Mandela in December 2013. Four kings, five queens, at least seventy presidents and prime ministers, and more than fourteen leaders of other religions attended, alongside the faithful. It is likely to have been one of the largest single gatherings of Christianity in history, with numbers estimated in excess of four million mourners gathering in Rome alone.
context_section_description: John Paul II's body was clothed in the familiar white soutane, over which was placed a plain white alb. A stole, the symbol of ordained ministry, was placed around his neck. Over the inner vestments, John Paul II was clothed in a red chasuble. An ancient Byzantine custom, red is the colour of mourning for Popes. Around his collar, the pallium of white lamb's wool was draped. A white zucchetto and a white bishop's mitre adorned John Paul II's head. In his arm rested Paul VI's pastoral cross-staff, used by popes in place of the crozier. His hands clasped a rosary. At first, he lay in state in his favourite pair of Polish-made brown leather shoes, size 44-1/2, which he wore on his travels throughout the world. Later, following the example of his immediate predecessors, these were changed to plain red leather papal shoes.
  The body of John Paul II was exposed first in the Papal Residence and venerated by the Clergy before a procession, after which it was placed in St. Peter's Basilica; The Swiss Guard remained always beside the body while it was exposed for viewing. After the placement of the body before the Burial Site of St. Peter, the faithful who had gathered in St. Peter's Square were allowed to enter the Basilica to pray before the exposed body. It remained there before a private ceremony of the placement of the body in a cypress casket, and then was brought outside into the Square for the funeral. For the funeral, the Swiss Guard departed the body to guard the Requiem Mass, presided by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
caption: The body of Pope John Paul II exposed to the faithful in the Vatican Basilica.
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