CLUTCHING rosaries, medals and flowers, thousands of people filed past the simple white marble tomb of Pope John Paul II yesterday as the Vatican reopened the grottoes beneath St Peter’s Basilica for the first time since the Pope died.

Clutching rosaries, medals and flowers, thousands of people filed past the simple white marble tomb of Pope John Paul today, as the Vatican re-opened the grottoes beneath St Peter’s Basilica.

The world’s Catholics are looking to the College of Cardinals to begin the difficult task of choosing a worthy successor to Pope John Paul II today, as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who filled Rome to bursting for the pontiff’s funeral began their journey home.

Presidents, prime ministers and kings were returning to their own nations tonight after the funeral of one remarkable man had drawn millions to Rome for the largest gathering of the powerful and the humble in modern times.