ROME — Millions of mourners had to wait several hours in line to view Pope John Paul’s body on display for public veneration in St. Peter’s Basilica.

For many, it was the perfect chance to reflect on the life of a great Pope. For others, the reaction of the pilgrims was stunning, and they grappled for answers.

“It’s made us realize that no other faith or denomination has such a strong leader,” said Vicky Bowd, a Methodist from Bristol, England. “It’s made us think just how strong the Pope was and how strong the Catholic faith is.”

The crowd stopped and started its way, meandering up one cobbled side street, back down another, and then up the Via della Conciliazione, the central boulevard leading up to the Vatican. The beginning of the vast queue, made up mainly of Italians, was hard to pinpoint, but the line-up was remarkably good-natured.

“It really shows an outpouring of just how much he meant to people,” said Father Michael Kerrigan, a Paulist priest from Toronto. “Among such a large crowd, you’d expect a stampede or some unrest, but there has been none of that; it’s been peaceful and tranquil because John Paul II was a man of peace, mercy and forgiveness.”

Pilgrims from all over the world had made the trip, many stealing a short time from work, simply to pay their respects to the man who so radically changed the world.

The mood was one more of joy than of mourning, with plenty of laughter and some people even breaking out into song. The number expected to visit the basilica in the days leading up to the funeral was initially estimated at 1.5 million. That soon jumped to 3 million as Rome braced itself to accommodate possibly the largest crowd the city had ever seen.

Many held banners saying simply “Thank You Holy Father,” while others held their national flags. Among the crowds were many Poles, for whom the Holy Father’s passing is a particularly heartfelt loss. And, because of the Pope’s many apostolic trips around the world, his World Youth Days in different countries, and all the media attention his life and death generated, a sea of visitors was seeking to say thank you to the Holy Father for one last time.

“He was the greatest of popes and although I never met him, I feel as though I know him,” said a Franciscan sister from Florence, Italy. “Going to see him lying in state is like going to see a father or grandfather.”

On the first day, tens of thousands waited under a warm sun April 4 for a chance to view the Pope’s body being moved from the  Clementine Hall to lie just in front of, and above, St Peter’s Tomb. There, he lay clad in a scarlet velvet robe, a white bishop’s miter and his favorite pair of simple brown shoes that he often wore.

Many who visited the tomb were visibly moved, dabbing away tears while priests and religious sat to the side, looking pensively at the Holy Father or deep in prayer. Others snapped photographs with their mobile phones, talked quietly and moved to the sides.

The atmosphere was serene as the mass of people moved slowly and purposefully, ushered along by Vatican guards who ensured the queue kept moving.

“It was beautiful,” said Lucia, 22, from Sicily.

“It was incredible how small he looked, such a great man,” said a man from Lecco, Italy.

“Seeing him lying there reminded me of the human condition, that we must also die as he did,” said one priest.

A large number of early visitors were clergy from other denominations. “They had priority over us!” exclaimed Father Kerrigan jokingly. “But it was a witness to his ecumenical spirit and the achievements he made in that area.”

Lining the Via della Conciliazione were huge television screens showing the body of John Paul lying next to the tomb of Peter, interspersed with clips of him when he was alive. Each time they were shown, the crowd would clap.

“It’s just an amazing atmosphere; he was a good man,” said Christine McPate from Glasgow, Scotland, as she waited in line. Her brother, Steven, said John Paul “changed the world more than perhaps he realized. He was not a man of our times, he was a man for all time.”

What would John Paul have made of it all?

“He’d probably be thinking that it refutes all those critics who said that the Church didn’t speak to them, or was outdated,” said Father Kerrigan.

Added an elderly Italian priest, “All of this is evidence of his appeal to humanity, to the importance of the faith and of human rights.”

Karol Wojtyla’s endurance — in holding fast to the truth and in the face of physical suffering — was the abiding memory for many of those who had lined up for hours.

As St. Paul wrote in the Second Letter to Timothy (4:5-7), “Put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.”

Father Kerrigan also emphasized John Paul II’s vision and charisma, a strong attraction to young people.

“He loved them and listened to them,” he said. “Here was a man of conviction who kept the faith and showed us how to win it — he kept going to the end and, as we say in baseball, he went out swinging.”

Edward Pentin writes

from Rome.