Vatican City, Apr 3, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Pope John Paul II's funeral mass will be celebrated at St. Peter’s Square Friday at 10 a.m., Rome time, the Vatican has announced.
His body will lie in state in St Peter's Basilica from Monday evening until Friday morning. The church will stay open late into the night, closing only between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. for maintenance.
In the next four days, an estimated two million pilgrims are expected to pay their last respects to the third-longest reigning pontiff, who died April 2 at the age of 84.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside at the open-air funeral mass. Hundreds of thousands are expected to attend.