Italian police are allowing mourners to join the queue to St. Peter's Basilica giving the faithful a final chance to pay respects Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.
Authorities had closed the queue last night as officials rushed to make last-minute preparations for the Pope's funeral tomorrow. They also closed the basilica for a few hours overnight for cleaning.
By the time the basilica and line reopened, many who had waited hours for a chance to spend a few seconds briefly viewing the Pope's crimson-robed body had given up and left.
Officials said the queue is moving quicker, with the wait shortened to just a few hours. However, they announced that the basilica doors would be shut at 10 p.m., making it likely that the queue would be closed later in the day to spare pilgrims too far back from waiting in vain. Yesterday, some in the throng had waited 24 hours to get inside.
Authorities estimate that some one million people are still hoping to see the Pope. An estimated four million people have descended on Rome since the pontiff's death on Monday.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims are expected to arrive in time for the funeral on special trains, planes and buses.
The Vatican is expected to release the text of John Paul's spiritual testament later today.
As crowd control problems worsened yesterday, officials sent text messages on Italian cellular phone networks that warned subscribers: "St. Peters full." Later that night they erected barricades to prevent people from joining the line.