VATICAN CITY, April 6 -- President Bush and a small delegation including former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush paid their last respects to Pope John Paul II Wednesday, kneeling to pray beside his body as it lies in state in St. Peter's Basilica.
Bush and the rest of the official U.S. delegation were whisked to the Vatican from Rome's airport shortly after arriving on a flight from the United States. Accompanying Bush and the two former presidents were first lady Laura Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr.
President Bush and former president George H.W. Bush pay their respects to Pope John Paul II as he lies in repose at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
(Danilo Schiavella - AFP)
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After filing into the basilica, they knelt in prayer as a group, then walked to the foot of the bier upon which the pontiff's body lies dressed in red and white vestments and his papal miter. There they paused for a few moments before walking the rest of the way around the bier, greeting cardinals and other dignitaries as they made their way out of the basilica.
Bush's trip to Rome marks the first time that a sitting U.S. president is attending the funeral of a pope. The visit to St. Peter's Basilica immediately after arrival was taken as a further sign of Bush's high regard for John Paul, whose proclamations in favor of a "culture of life" appeared to resonate with the president, even though the two differed on other matters, such as the death penalty and the war in Iraq.
The visit came after a Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, announced on Wednesday that the secret conclave of cardinals to elect a successor to John Paul will start on April 18.
The 117 cardinals eligible to vote can cast up to two ballots per day in the conclave, which will continue until a new pope is chosen. In accordance with church law, the cardinals will be sequestered in the Vatican for the duration of the balloting, forbidden to even read newspapers or watch the news lest they be influenced by outside opinion.
Their ballots and any notes they have taken will be burned afterward; the color of the smoke, along with the ringing of a bell, will signal that the cardinals have made their choice.
Under rules set down by John Paul himself, the conclave may begin no sooner than 15 days after the pope's death.
Navarro-Valls also reported Wednesday during a briefing that John Paul's last will and testament has now been opened and read to the cardinals. The 15-page document -- a spiritual statement rather than a conventional disposition of property -- will be made public Thursday after official translations from Polish, the pope's mother tongue.
Navarro-Valls said the heavy demand to see the pontiff's body prompted requests from members of the public to carry it through the streets of Rome to the Church of St. John Lateran, the traditional papal church. While he said the cardinals understood the desire for such a procession, Navarro-Valls said the cardinals felt it would be logistically problematic and rejected the idea.
He said that the pope's body would be made available for viewing by arriving dignitaries after public viewing ends on Thursday.
The visit by the Bush-led U.S. delegation came as an apparent exception to that plan.
Navarro-Valls also said there is no truth to rumors that John Paul, in his will, had named the "secret" cardinal he appointed in 2003. The name of the cardinal was held "in pectore," or "in the heart" -- a formula that has been used in recent years when a pope wants to appoint a cardinal in a country where the church is oppressed.
The Italian news agency ANSA speculated that the mystery cardinal was the bishop of Hong Kong, the Rev. Joseph Zen Ze-Kiun, an outspoken human rights advocate who has been banned from visiting his native China. Zen, in an interview with Italian radio, denied he was the one.
