Hundreds of mourners from all walks of life quietly filed past the closed coffin of Cardinal Basil Hume inside Westminster Cathedral yesterday where it will rest until shortly before his funeral, which takes place on Friday.
Cardinal Hume, who was the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, died last Thursday in a hospital in London, two months after he announced he was suffering from inoperable stomach cancer.
Shortly after 9 a.m. the doors of Westminster Cathedral Hall were opened to the public and mourners began walking past the cardinal's coffin, which is shrouded with an ivory-patterned cloth.
Resting on top of the coffin is the cardinal's biretta and two tall candles burned at one end of the coffin. A large crucifix stood at the other end and on a wall opposite the coffin a large portrait of the cardinal, sitting in a chair, looked down on the mourners.
Mourners will be able to pay their last respects to the cardinal between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. until tomorrow and then between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Thursday after which the coffin will be received into the main body of the cathedral for evening prayers. The cardinal's funeral Mass will take place on Friday at 11 a.m.
Among the mourners was Ms Rosa Strong, from north-west London, who described the cardinal as a "good leader" who was greatly respected by Catholics.
One man, who arrived at the doors of the hall at 4.30 a.m. and was the first to enter when the doors were opened, said he had spent his time waiting to get inside praying with other people in the queue: "The cardinal was our spiritual leader and he was a fantastic man and a great model to try to live up to," he said.