The Funeral of John Paul II Draws Millions to Rome

On 2 April 2005, Pope John Paul II died at the age of eighty-four in his private apartment in Vatican City, bringing an end to a papacy that spanned more than twenty-six years. His health had declined sharply over the preceding months following bouts of influenza, respiratory failure, and a subsequent tracheotomy. Vatican officials confirmed his condition had deteriorated critically by the end of March due to a urinary tract infection that developed into sepsis and organ failure. On 16 April, at the last general meeting of cardinals before the conclave, the Camerlengo, Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, carried out the traditional destruction of the Fisherman's Ring and the papal lead seal.

The ceremonies governing the mourning period and the funeral were the first to follow the revised liturgical rules established under John Paul II himself, notably the 1996 constitution Universi Dominici gregis and a revised order of papal funeral rites. He had asked to be buried in bare earth, and he would be laid to rest beneath St. Peter's Basilica rather than in his native Poland.