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Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) died at 21:37 pm on Saturday, April 2.

While the world waits for Pope John Paul II's successor to be named, there is inevitable speculation on how the late pontiff's 26-year reign will be remembered. I think he will be remember as one of the most important personalities of the 20th century. You can read a short biography at the Holy See's ("Santa Sede") official site:

Biography

Also in Spanish:

Biografia

Here's the homepage:

http://www.vatican.va

Between 15,000 and 18,000 people an hour are filing past the body of Pope John Paul as it lies in state in St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

Some 400,000 people poured into area around the city state on Monday hoping to catch a glimpse of the dead Pontiff and at least another 600,000 are expected to come to the area around the basilica by the end of Tuesday, a Vatican statement said.

Officials are predicting another 600,000 for Wednesday.

Pope John Paul's funeral is set for Friday with Rome authorities braced for some 2 million visitors for the event.