All roads lead to Rome for Friday's funeral of John Paul II

Rome (ENI). Hundreds of thousands of Christians from every corner of the globe are pouring into Rome for the funeral of John Paul II on 8 April after Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls announced details of the ceremony. He made the announcement after the College of Cardinals, the gathering of the red-hatted leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, held its first meeting after the 2 April death of the pontiff.

Editor of Krakow paper where Pope wrote says Poles must move on

Krakow, Poland (ENI). Hundreds of thousands of Poles are continuing to attend memorial services and vigils for the Pope across the country, including in the southern town of Wadowice, near Krakow, where John Paul II was born in May 1920. Krzysztof Kozlowski, an editor of Krakow's Roman Catholic Tygodnik Powszechny weekly newspaper, told Ecumenical News International that people had reacted "highly emotionally" to the pontiff's death. He now hoped they would "adjust calmly" to the prospect of living without a Polish Pope.

Israeli Holocaust survivors recall childhood meetings with Pope

Jerusalem (ENI). Israelis are mourning Pope John Paul II and honouring him as a great Christian leader who fought anti-Semitism and built historic bridges of reconciliation with the Jewish people, whom he embraced as Christianity's "older brothers". The sadness at the Pope's death was shared throughout Israel - from political leaders to rabbis to ordinary Israelis, including some who had known the Pope during his early years in his native Poland]