Catholic NewsPope's burial site near that of St. Peter
Vatican, Apr. 05, 2005 (CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II (bio - news) will be buried in one of the spots closest to the tomb of St. Peter in the grottos of the Vatican basilica.
At a media briefing on April 5, Joaquin Navarro-Valls confirmed that the body of John Paul II would be buried in the site once occupied by the remains of Pope John XXIII. After his beatification in 2000, the body of Blessed John XXIII was transferred to a new location in the St. Jerome chapel of the basilica.
Many Polish Catholics had hoped that the first Polish Pontiff would be buried in his native land. But since John Paul II evidently left no specific instructions to that end, his burial will follow the usual Vatican protocol.
After the funeral Mass on Friday, April 8-- a solemn ceremony that is expected to take nearly 3 hours-- the Pope's coffin will be brought to the grottos for burial. Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, the camerlengo, will preside at the burial service. After the coffin is sealed, and the burial duly recorded, the prelates present will sing the Salve Regina, and the coffin will be lowered into the ground. The site of the tomb will be marked by a simple marble slab, bearing the name of the deceased Pope.
The Vatican grottos mark the intersection where the current basilica connects with the ancient church built by the Emperor Constantine. Located underneath the main floor of the basilica, they can be reached by a stairway on the left-hand side of the nave.
The grottos are divided into two sections. The "new" grottos, which were restored to their current form between 1534 and 1546, during the pontificate of Paul III, are arranged in a semi-circle around the tomb where St. Peter is buried. The "old" grottos were created in 1606 by Pope Paul V; they were restored in the 1940s on the initiative of Pope Pius XII.
The Popes buried in the Vatican crypt have included Boniface VIII (1235-1303), Nicholas V (1397-1455), Paul II (1417-1471), Julian III (1443-1513), Innocent IX (1519-1591), Pius VI (1717-1799), Benedict XV (1854-1922), Pius XI (1857-1939), Pius XII (1876-195
, John XXIII (1881-1963), Paul VI (1897-197
and John Paul I (1912-197
.
On several occasions during his pontificate-- most recently on November 6, 2001-- Pope John Paul II visited the Vatican grottos to pray at the tombs of his predecessors.