MEXICO CITY, April 4 (UPI) -- Mexicans mourned the death of Pope John Paul II as bells tolled and worshippers wept, El Universal reported Monday.
At the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, thousands flocked from remote regions of the country to light candles and leave flowers at a statue of the late pope.
Mourners released balloons, most of them white, into the air at noon on Sunday in a symbolic act of farewell in the city's main square.
Eighty to 90 percent of Mexico's 106 million residents are estimated to be Catholic, and the pope visited the nation five times. The pontiff's popularity surged after he canonized Juan Diego, the Indian who witnessed the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531.
President Vicente Fox will travel to the Vatican this week for the pope's funeral. No Mexican official has attended a pope's funeral in the last 134 years.
Mexico restored diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 1992.
