April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Pope John Paul II, who led the Roman Catholic Church into its third millennium in a 26-year papacy that promoted peace, tolerance and reconciliation, was buried under St. Peter's Basilica today before a global audience of hundreds of millions.

The crowd of more than 1 million at times broke into applause and shouted ``saint, saint,'' during the 2 3/4 hour-long Mass. It was broadcast on 27 giant screens in piazzas throughout Rome and on television networks around the world. About 200 of the world's political and religious leaders were on hand.

The funeral ended at 12:45 p.m. when 12 pallbearers carried the cypress-wood coffin from the esplanade atop the steps of the Basilica and into St. Peter's. The coffin was placed in the former tomb of Pope John XXIII in a grotto under the Vatican that by tradition dates back 2,000 years.

``He gave of himself to the very end,'' Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 77, dean of the so-called College of Cardinals that is charged with choosing the pope's successor, said during the service, on a windy, cool day in Rome.

Ratzinger's homily commemorated John Paul's life, from growing up under Nazi occupation in Poland to the suffering of his final sickness. He highlighted the pope's appeal to young people and the globetrotting that took him to almost 130 countries during the third-longest pontificate in history.

Political Influence

John Paul II restored the political influence of the church to levels not known since the Renaissance, when the popes ruled a swath of what is now Italy.

He is credited with speeding the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe with his support for the Solidarity trade union in his native Poland, while resisting attempts to ease the church's opposition to birth control, homosexuality and women priests.

With heads of state from George W. Bush to Syria's Bashar al- Assad looking on, Ratzinger -- one of the pontiff's closest collaborators -- recalled how the pope, in pain, came to the window of his apartment to bless the crowd on Easter Sunday a week before he died at age 84.

``We can be sure that our beloved pope is now at the window of the house of his Father and he sees us and he blesses us,'' said Ratzinger, who worked for John Paul as chief enforcer of church doctrine. Ratzinger circled the coffin, sprinkling holy water, and then releasing a haze of incense smoke.

Burst of Applause

The pallbearers then carried off the casket, paused at the top of the steps of St. Peter's and turned to face the crowd. They lowered the simple wooden casket at an angle to display it to the masses, prompting a burst of applause, before they carried Pope John Paul inside for burial.

Helicopters buzzed over the area, one of the most obvious signs of the security net that had been spread over the city. The defense ministry said there were no specific threats, though with a gathering of heads of state rivaled only by the funeral of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, they weren't taking any chances.

Anti-aircraft missiles were deployed around the city, while a warship equipped with an air-defense system is patrolling the coast off Rome, and an AWACS surveillance jet from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization patrolled the sky.

`Santo Subito'

About 1 million people crammed into the area around St. Peter's to follow the service, the civil protection agency said.

Several banners in the crowd proclaimed ``Santo Subito'' -- sainthood straightaway -- for John Paul. The crowd interrupted the Mass with chants of ``Santo, Santo'' and waved flags from their home countries, with the Polish banner the most abundant in the throng that stretched almost a kilometer (0.6 mile).

``That was humanity at its best,'' Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali of Philadelphia, said of the crowd reaction at a press conference in Rome. ``People are capable of expressing such great sentiments and making an effort to be united with other people and accomplishing something good.''

This may be the most-watched funeral since the Sept. 6, 1997, ceremony for Diana Princess of Wales, whose procession through London drew at least 1 million spectators, according to police estimates. Some 2.5 billion people worldwide watched the service on television, the British Broadcasting Corp. said.

The global broadcasts of the pontiff's funeral, including on a giant screen in London's Trafalgar square, carried the last public appearance by the pope. As history's first mass-media pope, John Paul used the celebrity the media gave him to spread church doctrine, even as he denounced the same media for spreading a culture of sex and drugs.

Tremendous Chaos

The city's Ciampino airport, the closest to the city center and used mostly by low-cost carriers, was closed to commercial flights. Car traffic inside Rome's ring road, known as the GRA, remained cut off until 6 p.m. today. Roadblocks have sprung up in much of the center and many of the bridges that lead across the Tiber River to the Vatican district were closed.

``The chaos is tremendous, but the mess is all worth it,'' said Roman taxi driver Riccardo Bucci, 27. ``The pope did a lot for young people and peace.''

Authorities created temporary accommodations for about 200,000 people, laying out beds in the city's main convention center, Fiera di Roma, and setting up makeshift campgrounds around the city. At Rome's Circus Maximus, where the ancient Romans would host crowds of as many as 200,000 to watch chariot races, the city erected a tent city to handle the influx.

`Say Goodbye'

Will Hince, 21, from the southern coast of England, camped out at the Circus Maximus after hitchhiking to Rome in two days with 15 different rides and 10 euros in his pocket. An elderly Italian woman who drove him part way gave him 50 euros and a request: ``I can't make it,'' she said of the funeral, Hince recalled. ``Please say some prayers for me.''

For many, the tent city and free beds would have left them too far from the ceremony. Bartek Romanowicz, 18, arrived from Poland after a 24-hour bus ride. He slept on the grass at Castel Sant Angelo, the former papal fortress that stands on the Tiber River at the end of Via della Conciliazone, the wide avenue that runs to St. Peter's.

``We wanted to talk to the pope and say goodbye to him,'' he said. ``He is a very important person, very peaceful and lovely.''

It was young people like Bartek who made up much of the crowd today. They came to honor the only pope they had ever known, a man who managed to connect to young people throughout his papacy, even in the final years when Parkinson's disease and other ailments sapped his strength and left him unable to walk and barely able to speak.

Former Actor and Playwright

His travels and the World Youth Days that he started helped attract millions of young people to the church. When Cardinal Ratzinger mentioned how much the pope loved young people, the applause from the crowd forced him to pause.

The turnout at the funeral marked a fitting sendoff for the former actor and playwright, who knew how to work a crowd and charm the media. John Paul loved the attention of a multitude, former U.S. President Bill Clinton said aboard Air Force One earlier this week, as he and President Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, arrived in Rome.

``The man knows how to build a crowd,'' Clinton said, according to a pool report of his remarks. He recalled how after meeting with the pope at the cathedral in Newark, New Jersey, John Paul left and came back again just so he could make a grand entrance.

``He had himself spirited away for two miles so he could come in on the pope mobile, generate a crowd,'' Clinton said. ``He had nuns standing on the pews, screaming.''

Legacy

Today, there was little criticism of John Paul II. The critics who say he was an autocratic ruler of the church who alienated many Catholics -- particularly in the U.S. -- were silent.

John Paul II strengthened the Vatican's opposition to contraception, abortion, allowing women to become priests and easing of celibacy rules -- policies that have contributed to the decline of Catholicism in Western Europe.

This resolve also has resulted in a dearth of young people entering the clergy in the U.S. and Europe at a time when many Catholics were seeking change in the church.

On April 18, the College of Cardinals will start the secretive election known as the conclave to select a new pontiff. This man will have to decide how the church comes to terms with that part of John Paul's legacy.

To contact the reporters on this story: Vernon Silver in Rome at vtsilver@bloomberg.net; Andrew Davis in Rome at abdavis@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 8, 2005 14:00 EDT