An elaborate state funeral for Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, began today bereft of many world leaders whose travel plans were paralysed by the plume of volcanic ash that has covered Europe.

The bodies of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife were flown from Warsaw to Krakow today for burial among Polish kings and poets at a tradition-laden ceremony that will be bereft of many world leaders whose travel plans were paralysed by a plume of volcanic ash.

ADDRESSING more than two million faithful gathered for Poland's largest open-air Mass ever, Pope John Paul II warned yesterday of dangers posed when man “puts himself in God’s place.”