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• CATHOLIC LAWMAKERS HEADING TO ROME | 5:45 p.m. ET
Some of Congress’ most well-known Catholics will attend the funeral Friday of Pope John Paul II, though not as part of the official U.S. delegation.
Among them are Sens. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
The Senate delegation of 14 will be led by Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., will lead a House delegation of about two dozen members.
Hotel rooms are scarce in Rome, which could result in U.S. lawmakers spending the night Thursday at the American embassy, a monastery, distant hotels or even the cozy seats of the airplane, Republican and Democratic aides said.
The Senate delegation also includes Republicans Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Pete Domenici of New Mexico and Mel Martinez of Florida, and Democrats Joe Biden of Delaware, Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Richard Durbin of Illinois, John Kerry of Massachusetts, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland.
• POPE GUNMAN WON'T ATTEND FUNERAL | 4:45 p.m. ET
Turkish authorities on Tuesday turned down a request by the man who shot and seriously wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981 to leave prison and attend the pontiff’s funeral, his lawyer said.
Mehmet Ali Agca was seeking permission under a Turkish law that allows 72 hours’ leave to prisoners who have served a quarter of their term and have shown “good behavior,” said his lawyer, Mustafa Demirbag.
“We got the response, it was negative,” Demirbag told The Associated Press by telephone. “They said it was impossible because he was not eligible.”
Demirbag has acknowledged earlier that there was little chance that Agca would be allowed to leave prison.
The pope met with Agca in an Italian prison in 1983 and forgave him for the shooting. Agca was extradited to Turkey in 2000 after almost 20 years behind bars in Italy. Agca is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence in Istanbul for earlier crimes in Turkey.
• UNDERGROUND BURIAL | 3:30 p.m. ET
The pontiff expressed a wish to be buried in the ground, as opposed to being placed in an above-ground tomb, Archbishop Piero Marini, the Vatican’s master of ceremonies for liturgical celebrations, said Tuesday.
The grottoes where John Paul II will be buried form a cramped underground cemetery beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, where pontiffs throughout the ages, royals and even an emperor have been laid to rest.
Adorned with mosaics, frescoes, sculptures and crypts, the grottoes lie at the very heart of Christianity, near the site of St. Peter’s burial.
• 15,000 TO 18,000 VISITORS PER HOUR | 12:45 p.m. ET
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.
• GROWING GUEST LIST | 11:52 a.m. ET
Kings, queens and heads of state and government will join up to 2 million pilgrims for the funeral of Pope John Paul on Friday in what is expected to be the biggest gathering at the Vatican in its history.
Among the luminaries will be King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, President Jacques Chirac of France, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse of Sri Lanka, Prince Charles and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and, of course, President Bush.
• A BLAST FROM OUTSPOKEN THEOLOGIAN | 10:45 a.m. ET
Amid the outpouring of praise for the late pope, a leading theologian who defied John Paul II says the pontiff has bequeathed a “dead hand” on the Roman Catholic church that will continue to exert a damaging influence beyond his death.
“The Polish pope’s internal policies were devastating,” Hans Kueng said in a statement, citing “many average, even incompetent bishops, some countries where over half of all parishes are without priests, and less and less qualified new blood.”
He added, “This pope continued to forbid priests from marrying, he forbade women to use the Pill, men to use condoms, women to take Church ministries, lay theologists to preach and Christians (of other denominations) to share the Eucharist.”
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