How the service unfolded
The funeral service for the Pope was an elaborate version of the same requiem mass said at all Roman Catholic funerals.
The two-and-a-half hour funeral was led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a possible successor to the papacy, in his position as the dean of the College of Cardinals.
The service began inside St Peter's Basilica with Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, the Vatican Chamberlain, giving a prayer commending the Pope's soul to Christ. The Pope's body was then placed in a coffin of cypress wood and carried by 12 pall bearers to the steps outside for the open-air funeral.
John Paul's longtime private secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, and the master of the liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Piero Marini, placed a white silk veil over the Pope's face before the coffin was closed.
More than 150 priests and cardinals followed the coffin in order of seniority before taking up positions on the steps to the right of the altar along with leading members of other faiths.
The service was largely in Italian and Latin but included a prayer of unity in French, Swahili, Filipino, Polish, German and Portuguese.
After a series of readings and a sermon from Cardinal Ratzinger, hundreds of priests were to distribute Holy Communion. The choir was then due to sing the Litany of the Saints including the names of saints canonised by John Paul II.
The funeral mass was to end with everybody standing together singing: "May the angels accompany you into heaven, may the martyrs welcome you when you arrive, and lead you to Holy Jerusalem."
