Pilgrims wait for hours for brief glimpse of John Paul

Huge groups of pilgrims, students and clergy poured out of buses at St Peter’s Square today, joining queues that stretched miles through the surrounding streets to wait for a brief glimpse of Pope John Paul’s body.

They waited for hours, through the chilly pre-dawn hours and into the spring warmth of the day, to reach St Peter’s Basilica, where the pontiff lay in state. Ushers sought to move the massive crowds swiftly through.