Moved by Pope John Paul II until the last

As millions queued up to pay their last respects to Pope John Paul II, Fergal Keane joined the masses in St Peter's Basilica to see a man who 'managed to make a connection with just about everyone on the planet'.

The sheer volume of people is staggering. No one, not even the Vatican, expected such an outpouring from ordinary people following the death of Pope John Paul II. By Wednesday the queue to file past the Pope's body was snaking through several city streets, 100 people deep, more than 100,000 people at any one time.

There is a sense here that something special has been happening over the last week. That ordinary people have taken matters into their own hands to make the funderal of this Pope a truly historic event, the largest funeral the world has ever seen.

The vast majority, early in the week, were Italians. People came from all over the country, they said, to pay their respects to a man who had changed history and to celebrate his life. Later huge numbers of Poles began to arrive, way more than the conservative estimate of a million. For them the death of the Pope was a more personal matter. He was a man who had led them from under communism and who saw their country become a member of the EU. He had left each of them a personal legacy and many were feeling real grief.

From the time the huge numbers began to arrive the Italians, with little fuss, began handling the situation impressively. St Peter's Square was closed off at lunchtime on Monday. Anyone who was inside at that time was allowed stay, otherwise the giant queue was started along the Via Della Conciliazione, the street, a half a mile long, leading to the Vatican. By Monday afternoon when the Pope's body was carried in processions to St Peters's, that street was full as well. Throughout the day thousands of police handled the crowds in a cheerful and low key manner. In the Italian way they were not unbending in applying the rules and that stayed the same throughout.

Civil Defence volunteers were drafted in from all over the country to help with crowd control and supply first aid. They were giving out free bottles of mineral water to everyone who arrived. The water was being brought in by the truckload and there was as much as anyone wanted, and it was free. It would embarrass you to think what our reaction to the same situation in Ireland would be. No doubt we would be hawking the water at vastly inflated prices.

Of course they have been making up for it by doubling hotel prices in some places. But if you arrived and couldn't afford a hotel, camp sites were set up around the city and dormitaries were established in aircraft hangers and factories to house people. Supplies stored to help earthquake victims were broken out to provide bedding.

Such was the sense of occasion that even I decided to get in line to view the body of John Paul II. I'm someone who as a teenager didn't even go to see him when he was in Ireland (he snubbed Cork) but here the sense that something special has been happening got to me.

I joined the line at 4am Irish time on Tuesday thinking I would beat the rush, the doors of St Peter's had only been open a few hours by then. When I arived it seemed that half of Italy had the same idea and the queue was over half a mile long. The atmosphere was respectful but not sombre and even though the wait seemed interminable you always had the sense that you were making progress. The Italians organised it so that you were standing still for a while then suddenly you walked about 40 metres. Occasionally they would leave a gap in the crowd and street sweepers would appear and clean that section.

Only two hours after getting in line I was inside St Peter's. Once there you are hurried along by ushers so that no one has more than 20 seconds in front of the Pope's body. Many people were in tears as they passed but others marked the occasion by taking photographs on their camera phones. You can only imagine the impression they will make on the people to whom they send that particular photograph.

John Paul II lying in state dominated the awe-inspiring building to such an extent that you have to draw you eyes away from him to look at the vast dome designed by Michelangelo and the rose – of what is surely the most magnificent construction in the world. His body looks ravaged by age and pain. Even when compared to the man we saw making his last public appearances, he looks shrunken and very, very, old. He looks like someone whe endured torture in his last days.

Outside again, the queue I had thought was long, had grown threefold in the space of two and a half hours.

Later that day it had trebled in size again as people arrived from all over Italy and Europe. By Tuesday evening the wait was eight or nine hours but people were enduring it with forbearance and good will. The amazing thing is that at least half of them were under the age of 25, begging the question: What had this man done to reach out to such huge numbers of people so many of then very young?

There is not doubt that some of it lies in his huge personal charm and charisma. He didn't manage to halt the decline of the Catholic Church in many countries, but with his actor's timing and skill at communication, he managed to make a connection with just about everyone on the planet.

His doctrinal conservatism alienated huge numbers within the church, but whether or not you agreed with anything he said or did, you would have to acknowledge that he was one of the great historical figures of the 20th century. His personal courage and his humility should be an example to us all.