"Oh Lord, our salvation, listen to us who are praying to you with all the saints," the cardinal said. "And welcome our pope, John Paul, who trusted in the prayer of the church, in Christ our Lord. Grant him eternal rest, our Lord. May perpetual light shine on him. May he rest in peace."

Sixty-five of the church's cardinals gathered in the Bologna Hall of the Apostolic Palace for the first meeting of the General Congregation of Cardinals since the pope's death on Saturday. They were led by the dean of cardinals, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is certain to play a leading role as a power broker during the papal conclave of cardinals that will elect the pope.

They sat around a U-shaped table, with Ratzinger at the center of its base, said a senior Vatican official attending the meetings. He spoke on condition of anonymity. Underscoring the mystery that will shroud most of their words and deeds, the cardinals took an oath of secrecy, as dictated by the constitution regulating papal transitions that John Paul II wrote in 1996. They set the time and date for John Paul's funeral for 10 a.m. Friday in St. Peter's Square, Navarro-Valls said at a news briefing on Monday.

Immediately after the funeral, the pope will be buried in a crypt below the basilica, the popes' traditional place of burial.

"He did not state any wishes, and so we will follow tradition," Navarro-Valls said.

The cardinals' gathering was the first time so many of them had met since the pope's death, and scores more were expected to arrive in coming days, each taking the oath of obedience and secrecy to the constitution on arrival.

Many likely began taking measure of whom among them would make the best successor to John Paul. That decision, by vote, will come during the conclave.

It was not known whether the cardinals had set a date for the beginning of the conclave, when the 117 voting cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel to deliberate the future of the 1.1 billion-member church and choose one of their own as the next pope.

"It was really a business meeting with the cardinals," Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington told CNN on Monday. "We got together and wanted to make sure that we're doing this in the way the holy father wanted us to, following his instructions and following the guidance that he gave us in that constitution."

Navarro-Valls said John Paul would "almost surely" be placed in the space that held the body of Pope John XXIII from his death in 1963 until 2000, when it was moved to the main floor of the basilica. That was the year John XXIII was beatified, the first step toward sainthood, and the crush of pilgrims necessitated a larger space.

The city of Rome is gearing up for an estimated 2 million visitors.

The funeral also will bring together dozens of world leaders. Among those expected to attend are President Bush and his wife, Laura, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, President Jacques Chirac of France, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Britain's Prince Charles has postponed his marriage to longtime lover Camilla Parker Bowles from Friday to Saturday so that he can attend the funeral.

The Vatican official who spoke anonymously revealed new details about the immediate aftermath of the pope's death. He put to rest speculation that the pope's death had been confirmed by the centuries-old tradition of a tap to the forehead with a small silver hammer. "We have more modern ways," he said. "It would be an anachronism."