Alarm sirens wailed and church bells tolled across Poland to mark the start of funeral rites for Pope John Paul as millions gathered to pay their last respects to their greatest native son and spiritual leader.
Poles flocked to churches and huge open-air Catholic masses, where giant TV screens showed the funeral service in St. Peter's Square, to bid farewell to the Pope who inspired the fight to overcome communism and pushed them toward mainstream Europe.
More than 800,000 gathered at the Blonie public meadows in Krakow -- the southern Polish city where Karol Wojtyla served as archbishop before becoming Pope in 1978 -- and police expected the crowd to reach one million for the second successive day.
John Paul said his last mass on Polish soil in Blonie three years ago, with a record congregation of nearly 3 million Poles.
"This is much like that Blonie mass," said Tadeusz Dumalski, 60, standing in a solemn crowd of worshippers.
"It was also warm and sunny but then we saw the light fading in the Holy Father's eyes. He spoke to us as if he wanted to say farewell and now I know he was guided by the hand of God and I am thankful I was there to witness it." The chair in which the Pope sat during that mass stood empty on a makeshift altar, decorated only with a black ribbon.
Tens of thousands attended all-night vigils in major cities and lit votive lamps along streets named after the late Pontiff, who died last Saturday at the age of 84.
Flags hung from windows and adorned taxis and buses during Poland's six days of mourning culminating in a public holiday on Friday, while the Pope's homilies and personal remarks to his compatriots were aired repeatedly on television.
SPIRITUAL BOND
Danuta Michalowska, a childhood friend of Wojtyla and fellow actor, said she had decided to watch the funeral in silence in her Krakow home and recalled the last letter she received from the ailing Pontiff last month.
"He was already very ill, but still made the effort to confirm his spiritual bond with me. He asked me to pray for him during his illness... These words have been engrained in my soul and as I watch the broadcast I will contemplate them," she said.
The Pope has an iconic status in Poland and other central European nations for helping them shake off communism and return to democracy after half a century of domination by Moscow.
He gave Poles more self-confidence and brought them international recognition. After the peaceful 1989 revolution, he actively pushed Poland toward European Union membership and helped his native land find reconciliation with the Jews.
"These 26 years changed so much -- from our approach to the Jewish people to the way the Papacy is seen," said Father Adam Boniecki, the editor of an influential Catholic weekly.
"Our Vatican umbrella has been taken down. We are now adults and must carry on with what we have learnt," he told the private television station Polsat from Rome.
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