Peter's Basilica, right down to the tombs where predecessors lay, where John Paul's yellow
cypress coffin would be placed inside a lead coffin, which would be placed inside an elm one.
The
cypress coffin was carried back into the church to the sound of the bells, where it was encased in a second casket of zinc and a third, made of walnut.
The first
cypress coffin, its grainy fibres visible, was placed inside a second one, of zinc, then a third of walnut ( the latter two to slow down the decomposition process.
Now his body was placed in a plain
cypress coffin, a symbol of his humility.
Applause rang out as John Paul's plain
cypress coffin adorned with a cross and an M for the Virgin Mary was brought out from St Peter's Basilica and placed on a carpet in front of the altar.
Cardinals wearing white mitres processed on to the square, the wind rippling their red vestments and the pages of the book of the Gospel, which was placed on the
cypress coffin.
His body will rest in a
cypress coffin, encased within a second coffin of lead, with an inscription bearing his name.
After finding they don't have enough money for a spiffy
cypress coffin, Ermei's father cuts down his own cypress tree but is fined; us a result, the family marries Ermei off to a dumb local, Zhang Suo (Yan Su), who's willing to pony up the sizable amount of 3,000 yuan ($350).