Cardinals look ahead to election

The Pope's final resting place is close to that of St Peter

Roman Catholic cardinals are turning their attention to who the next pope will be, a day after Pope John Paul II was buried on Friday in Rome.

The Church has begun nine days of mourning for him, with a daily Mass at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

The conclave to elect the next pope will start on 18 April and will last as long as it takes to reach a decision.

Two hundred world leaders attended the Pope's funeral along with some 400,000 pilgrims from all over the world.

Ahead of the conclave, cardinals will take part in formal daily meetings.

But smaller, informal gatherings over lunch or coffee might prove more productive, the BBC's Robert Pigott says.

Almost all the cardinals have been appointed by Pope John Paul II.

Legacy

Two cardinals will be elected to brief their peers on the state of the Church ahead of the lengthy ritual during which the new pope will be elected.

Images from the funeral In pictures

Eventually, white smoke will rise above the Sistine Chapel, where the conclave takes place, to announce that a decision has been reached.

Black smoke indicates another round of voting needs to take place.

For the first time, church bells will also ring after a successful vote, to eliminate any possible confusion about the colour of the smoke.

Funeral Mass

On Friday millions of faithful around the world watched John Paul II's funeral Mass on television and giant screens.

His grave is marked by a simple marble slab inscribed with his name in Latin, Joannes Paulus II, and the years of his life, 1920-2005.

After the requiem, the coffin was taken back into the basilica and placed in its final resting place in the crypt.

Only senior clerics and close friends of the Pope accompanied the coffin to the 16th-Century crypt for the private interment.

The simple cypress wood coffin was placed inside two other caskets - one zinc and one oak - before being buried near the resting place of St Peter.

The three-hour funeral service was conducted by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals.

In his homily, or sermon, Cardinal Ratzinger traced the life of the man he called "our late beloved Pope" from his days as a labourer in Nazi-occupied Poland to supreme leader of more than one billion Roman Catholics worldwide.