Pope Paul VI prolonged impediment", he would renounce his office "both as bishop of Rome as well as head of the same holy Catholic Church". Paul VI did away with much of the regal splendor of the papacy. He was the last pope to date to be crowned; his successor Pope John Paul I substituted an inauguration for the papal coronation (which Paul had substantially modified, but which he left mandatory in his 1975 apostolic constitution "Romano Pontifici Eligendo"). At his coronation Paul wore a tiara that was a gift from the Archdiocese of Milan. At the end of the second session of
Funeral of Pope John Paul II Funeral of Pope John Paul II The funeral of Pope John Paul II was held on 8 April 2005, six days after his death on 2 April. The funeral was followed by the "novemdiales" devotional in which the Catholic Church observes nine days of mourning. On 22 February 1996, Pope John Paul II introduced revisions to the centuries-old ceremonies surrounding papal death, repose and burial. The revisions enacted through the apostolic constitution "Universi Dominici gregis" applied to his own funeral. Pope John Paul's funeral brought together what was, at the time, the single largest gathering in history of heads of