Pope John Paul’s coffin exhumed ahead of beatification ceremony

POPE John Paul’s coffin has been exhumed ahead of his beatification as tens of thousands of people began arriving in Rome for one of the biggest events since his funeral in 2005.

The Vatican said the coffin was removed from the crypts below St Peter’s Basilica while top Vatican officials and some of the late pope’s closest aides looked on and prayed.

Those present at the ceremony included Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, his personal secretary and right- hand man for decades, and the Polish nuns who ran the papal household for 27 years.