Thousands remember pope in Krakow
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• Faithful honor pope around the world
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 Mourners in Pope John Paul II's homeland pay their last respects to a favorite son. CNN's Chris Burns reports. (April 8)
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(CNN) -- Hundreds of thousands of people have been gathering in a Krakow field and clogged Poland's city streets to watch coverage of the funeral of Pope John Paul II, a man revered as a national hero in his homeland.
An estimated 300,000 people watched the funeral from the field -- the same place where the pope, in 2002, spoke to his Polish flock for the last time in person, effectively bidding them farewell.
Others, young and old, watched the event from huge television screens set up in cities across the country.
Polish schools and businesses were closed Friday to honor the pope, whose popularity was enduring even though a recent poll showed 85 percent of Catholic Poles did not agree with his conservative viewpoint or follow his preachings.
At the old archbishop's residence, recordings of the pope speaking were played Thursday night for those gathered.
Poland is 95 percent Catholic, and services and ceremonies have been held day and night for the pope, with the Vatican and Polish flags flying side by side. Many people would still like to see John Paul II's heart returned for burial in his homeland, although some leaders have denounced the practice as medieval and outdated
In Warsaw, sirens wailed for three minutes to announce the start of the funeral to the capital.
About 25,000 people packed Warsaw's Pilsudski Square where the pope celebrated Mass before a million people during his first visit to Poland as pope in 1979. Another 2,000 gathered in the Old Town in front of Saint Ann's Church to watch the funeral on huge television screens.
"The pope was an extraordinary person and did great things," 18-year-old high school student Janek Chorzewski told The Associated Press as he watched the funeral start. "We should follow his example."
Urszula Hurtowska brought her two children to watch the broadcast.
"The pope was always an inspiration to my family," the 27-year-old told AP. "No one ever gave us such a feeling of pride that we were born as Poles."
Hundreds of thousands of Poles streamed into Rome for the funeral.
"I came here to pay the last respects," said a woman who identified herself only as Grazyna. "It doesn't matter where you are from in Poland, he was a father to all of us. Although he has gone, he will always remain with us."
The funeral is believed to have been the most widely watched in human history.
In India, the late Mother Teresa's missionaries gathered to watch. Mother Teresa and the pope were close friends, and after her death, John Paul II put her on a fast track to sainthood.
In the West Bank city of Ramallah, people watched the funeral from a Catholic church.
And in Brazil, which has the world's biggest Catholic population, people watched from their homes and from cafes as well as churches.
"This is a sad morning," said Maria Luiza Dalcy, 77. "But at the same time it's a morning of hope, I think. It's a morning of gratitude to God, because our pope ... is now face to face with God."
In London, some people gathered in the rain to watch the funeral on television screens that had been set up at Trafalgar Square. About 100 more attended a service at Westminster Cathedral, the Catholic church's London headquarters.
In China, where the Catholic church is not officially recognized, only a handful of people gathered to pray for the pope. But in Japan, thousands of people packed Tokyo's St. Mary's Cathedral to watch the funeral.
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
