April 5, 2005 - 5:05 AM

Premiers and pilgrims flood Rome

By Philip Pullella and Jane Barrett

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Presidents and pilgrims are due to pile into Rome, creating a logistical nightmare for the city as itprepares for Pope John Paul's funeral on Friday, the biggest in modern history.

U.S. President George W. Bush led the way late on Wednesday, visiting the Pope's body which is lying in state in St.Peter's.

Behind him, crowds who had been queuing for more than 15 hours shuffled their way up the main aisle of the basilica for aquick glimpse of the Pope's greying body, their mobile phones held high to get a picture of the crimson-clad Pontiff.

"It's a once-in-a lifetime experience and, though it's boring when I'm standing here, I know it's going to be amazing when I getinside and I'll remember it when I'm 50," said Lily Livesey, 12, queuing with schoolfriends from Southampton.

Rome has been inundated by more than 4 million people flooding in to pay their last respects to a Pope who made historyby helping bring down the Iron Curtain but who was also criticised for his orthodoxy in a time of huge social change.

Pilgrims from as far away as California and the Pope's native Poland rushed to join a line to see his body before policecordoned off the queue so the remaining million will pass the bier before St. Peter's is shut on Thursday night to prepare for thefuneral.

Many burst into tears when burly policemen in padded riot uniforms with guns and sticks turned them away.

"Please, please, please, let me in," sobbed Alexandra Kramarczyk, a 21-year-old Polish girl who arrived just after the queuewas closed. "We're Polish, he's our Pope."

Thousands more pilgrims are expected to arrive in time for the funeral on special trains, planes and buses.

Authorities have pleaded with newcomers to stay away from Rome's historic centre which is already saturated with pilgrimscarrying backpacks and flags. They directed people to campsites on the outskirts where big screens will beam the funeral live.

Back at the Vatican, workers have set up hundreds of seats in St. Peter's Square for the crowd of expected kings, queens,presidents, prime ministers and religious leaders -- many of them political foes united in a funeral.

Later on Thursday, Bush is due to meet Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, one of his closest allies in the war in Iraqwhich the Pope stood so firmly against.

LAST WILL

While Rome battles to rein in the chaos and protect the masses with extra troops, anti-aircraft missiles, a traffic block and ano-fly zone, the cardinals of the Catholic Church are turning their mind to who will take over from John Paul II.

The Pope's 15-page will, which was read to cardinals on Wednesday, is due to be published on Thursday. It speaks moreabout his spiritual legacy than the few possessions he had to pass on to his long-serving aides, a Vatican source said.

Cardinals under the age of 80 -- there are 117 in all -- will start a conclave on April 18 to pick the man who will inherit thethrone of St. Peter.

The pope will be chosen under stunning Michelangelo frescoes in the Sistine Chapel and when he walks out his future will beno less colourful.

The next pope faces the daunting task of leading 1.1 billion Catholics in an era marked by tension between religions,between science and ethics, between doctrine and social pressure to change and open up to contraception, women andmarried priests.

There is no favourite candidate to succeed John Paul and the former Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow was himselfthought an outsider when he was elevated to the papacy on October 16, 1978.

However, cardinals have started sketching identikits. Some believe the next pope should come from the SouthernHemisphere, where two thirds of Catholics live.

"Is it time for a pope from Latin America or Africa?" Jozef Glemp from Poland asked. "Yes, it's possible.