"It’s as if he is still alive. It’s as if he is there," said Maria Pazienza Salaris, a Sardinian woman who was one of the first people to pay their respects at the tomb of Pope John Paul II, which opened to the public this morning.

The crypt, under St Peter's Bascilica in Rome, was kept closed until today at the request of Italian authorities who feared the hundreds of thousands who attended his funeral on Friday would remain in the city to visit his tomb.

Many have stayed nevertheless. Graziella Valmori, a French woman of Italian origin, drove to Rome last week to see the Pope lying in state and has remained in Rome.

She was the first in the queue, arriving nearly three hours before the crypt where 62 other popes are buried opened at 7am today. "He was so good, he deserved all this," Ms Valmori said.

Father Leszek,  from Poland,  was another of the hundreds in the pre-dawn queue. "I want to pray at the tomb of the Holy Father. It is very hard to apply his teachings in our lives, so I want to beg him for help," he said.

Once the doors opened, many prayed in front of the simple marble slab as ushers quietly, but firmly, asked the pilgrims to move along to allow others in the constant stream of people to have a brief moment to say their last goodbye.

Some had been due for months to attend the Pope’s weekly Wednesday general audience.  Anna Lucia Rotunno, from Bari in southern Italy, said: "We had an audience today, but we came too late to see him alive," she said.

The Vatican has asked the faithful to not bring flowers into the crypt, so some are bringing messages and giving them to ushers. "Dear Pope, all the children of Ghemme love you," read one from a pilgrim from northern Italy.

Roman Catholic cardinals, who have gathered in Rome for the Pope's funeral and to elect a new pope, paid their respects at the tomb yesterday.

Wearing crimson robes and tall white bishop’s mitres, the cardinals stood in pairs at the foot of John Paul’s grave and bowed their heads.

Peparations for the cardinals' vote, which begins on Monday, resume today.  Some observers believe the process could be a rapid one.  Of the eight conclaves held in the 20th century, none took longer than five days, and two of them were completed on the second day.

It took just eight ballots over three days to choose the relatively unknown archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II in 1978.

Some 14 cardinals are considered possibilities, with one bookmaker putting Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the 71-year-old archbishop of Milan, as favourite, along with Nigeria’s Cardinal Francis Arinze, 72.

Others include:

• Joseph Ratzinger, Cardinal of Germany, 77
• Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, 77
• Camillo Ruini, deputy bishop of Rome, 74
• Battista Re, head of the Vatican congregation for bishops, 71
• Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Venice, 63
• Christoph Schoenborn, Archbishop of Vienna, 60
• Ivan Dias, Cardinal of India
• Telesphore Placidus Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi, India, 65
• Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 62
• Jorge Bergoglio, Cardinal of Argentina, 68
• Dario Castrillon Hoyos, Cardinal of Colombia, 75
• Claudio Hummes, Archbishop of Sao Paulo, 70

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