Distributing the program Feb. 18, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the deceased pope’s remains will be in the casket in which he originally was buried in 2005 and will not be visible.

The casket will be reinterred in the Chapel of St. Sebastian on the main level of St. Peter’s Basilica in a “private” ceremony, which will occur only after the large crowds have stopped coming to pay their respects, Lombardi said.

The night before the beatification, a prayer vigil will be held in the grassy open space that was the ancient Circus Maximus in Rome, the Vatican said.

“It will be organized by the diocese of Rome, which had the venerable servant of God as its bishop,” the note said.

Cardinal Agostino Vallini, papal vicar for Rome, will lead the celebration and Pope Benedict is expected to watch through a video hookup.

The morning after the beatification, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, will celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving in St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican said.

U.S. Archbishop James Harvey, prefect of the papal household, which organizes the non-liturgical side of papal events, also issued a statement Feb. 18 emphasizing the fact that tickets will not be required to attend the beatification.

The archbishop’s statement said he had been “informed of the existence of unauthorized offers by some tour operators, especially on the Internet,” claiming that for a fee they could help people get tickets to papal events, particularly the beatification Mass.

“For the beatification Mass of Pope John Paul II, as made clear from the outset, no tickets are required,” the statement said.

And for events that require tickets, such as the pope’s weekly general audience, the tickets “are always issued free of charge and no person or organization can request any kind of payment,” it said.