John Paul II was beatified at a ceremony presided over by his successor Benedict XVI in St.

Peter's Square Sunday, with a crowd of over one million watching one of history's most popular popes move one step from sainthood.

Benedict read a Latin formula proclaiming John Paul, who died aged 84 on April 2, 2005 after a long illness, beatified before a large tapestry depicting the Polish pontiff early in his papacy was uncovered on the front of St. Peter's to long, warm applause.

''The awaited day has come and it came soon,'' said Benedict. ''John Paul II is blessed''. The proclamation established that John Paul's feast day will be October 22, the anniversary of the day in 1978 when his pontificated was inaugurated.

The faithful, many moved to tears by the emotion of the event, stretched back as far as the eye could see, many waving their national flags, with the red and white of John Paul's homeland Poland particularly prominent.

Those who could not get within sight of St. Peter's watched on big screens set up in the area and at Circus Maximus, the ancient Romans' chariot track which was the venue for a prayer vigil on Saturday.

Many pilgrims had camped out overnight with hotel rooms in the Italian capital fully booked.

John Paul's coffin has been transferred to the Altar of Confession in St Peter's to give Catholic pilgrims an opportunity for prayer and veneration following the beatification ceremony after it was disinterred from the crypt in the basilica on Friday.

It is on display with a precious Medieval copy of the gospel laid open on top. On Monday, after the Basilica is closed it will be moved to the Chapel of St Sebastian near Michelangelo's famous Pieta'.

The Chapel of St Sebastian was chosen because it is close to the entrance to the basilica and so it will be easier for the Polish pontiff's hosts of admirers to get to.

Benedict sanctioned the beatification in January after a Vatican commission officially attributed a miracle to John Paul - the miraculous recovery of a French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, from Parkinson's Disease through the intervention of the late pope.

The now blessed Polish pontiff also suffered from Parkinson's Disease.

Sister Simon-Pierre testified that same year that she had dreamed of the late pope shortly before recovering.

John Paul will have to be attributed with another miracle before he can be canonized. Pope Benedict XVI put his predecessor's beatification cause on a fast track, waiving a rule requiring a five-year wait before the start of the process, after crowds called on him to be made a 'Santo Subito!' (Saint now!) at his funeral.

The Vatican, however, has insisted this did not mean the process had been any less rigorous than otherwise would have been the case.

''Six years ago we gathered in this square for Pope John Paul II's funeral,'' said Benedict.

''The pain of the loss was deep, but the sense of immense grace that wrapped Rome and the whole world was deeper.

''That grace was the fruit of the whole life of my beloved predecessor and especially his testimony while suffering (ill health).

''On that day we smelt the scent of his saintliness and the people of God have expressed their veneration of him in many ways.

''That's why, while respecting Church rules, I wanted his beatification to proceed with discreet swiftness''. Around 90 national delegations attended Sunday's ceremony.

The dignitaries included Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, Polish President Bronislaw Komrowski, King Albert and Queen Paola of Belgium, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso and Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe. (ANSAmed