The Pope was presiding over his beatification, the step before sainthood.

Although the Pope presided over the Mass and served as its cynosure, others lent their voices, talents and prayers.

The Pope Is Gone And So Is the Sign Life returned to normal along the blocks of two-story wooden houses that surround Newark's Sacred Heart Cathedral, where the Pope presided over evening Vespers last Wednesday.

Described by his author as a "bad guy," Stickleback is cast initially as a Moriarty-type figure, "The Pope of Crime[, who] secretly presides over the criminal fraternity of a fantastical, grotesque, Gormenghast-style old London town."

"Your journey does not end here," John Paul told a crowd of hymn-singing young people from 160 countries who had spent all night at the 135-acre Longchamp Race Track after a three-hour baptismal ceremony for 10 of them over which the Pope presided the evening before.

Some in the crowds jeered at General Pinochet and threw stones at the police, who hit back with tear gas and water cannon, just 50 yards away from where the Pope was presiding at an open-air mass.

Because of its location in the Vatican, the Pope presides at a number of services throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Vatican Basilica, or in St. Peter's Square.

Originally, the Pope himself carried the cross from station to station, but in his last years when age and infirmity limited his strength, John Paul presided over the celebration from a stage on the Palatine Hill, while others carried the cross.

The Pope also presided over the opening in Santo Domingo of the Fourth General Latin American Episcopal Conference, held on Oct. 12-28.

The Pope presided from a 50-foot-square altar, surrounded by 10,000 gold-and-white mums, all of it put in place in just three days to avoid interference with New York Giants scrimmages.