Three Coffin Ritual for Pope's Burial

Pope John Paul II left some very specific instructions, one, that he wished to be buried underground.

The Pope's body was placed in the first coffin, a cypress coffin, before the funeral.

The cypress coffin was placed on the stone steps of St. Peter's Basilica during the funeral Mass, and after, was moved inside the building.

There, according to Church tradition, it was placed in a hermetically sealed zinc coffin. The zinc coffin was in turn placed in an oak coffin and interred under a marble slab.

According to then Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Pope had not been embalmed but said the body had been "prepared" for viewing prior to his funeral.

John Paul II's coffin is now in its final resting place in St. Sebastian's Chapel, inside St. Peter's Basilica. The transfer was made on Monday May 2nd, 2011 after the Vatican held a private prayer service. 


Blessed John Paul II, in 2005, was first buried in the place where the tomb of John XXIII once resided. Pope John XXIII has since been exhumed and found to be incorrupt.

And so it may be with Blessed John Paul the Great.