At Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Parish in New Port Richey, tolling church bells greeted early arrivals for the 4 p.m. service. In the rear of the sanctuary, the Rev. Ken Slattery stood gathering his thoughts and staring at the pope's portrait draped with a sash of mourning purple.

``We've lost a fabulous leader,'' he said, looking away.

As the pews filled, the priest proceeded up the main aisle to share the sad news before beginning Mass. His words were met by groans of sorrow.

``It's appropriate he died during the Easter season,'' Slattery, 50, told them. ``Our pontiff, John Paul, will also rise.''

When Sylvia Mencik, 49, of Hudson, stopped in before Mass to pray for the pope, she, too, was unaware that he'd died.

``I was praying that he would go in peace,'' she said, kneeling before flickering prayer candles. ``Hearing that he has is good. I'm glad he's at peace now.''

When he heard the news, Ben Cleveland stopped by St. Paul's Catholic Church in St. Petersburg to pray and say the rosary for the pope.

``He was the only pope I ever knew. I was born the day his predecessor died,'' said the 26- year-old courier for FedEx. ``I saw him in Denver in 1994 at World Youth Day. It was amazing to see all the young people who came to be with him.

``Sometimes when you go to church, you just see older people there. But when he talked in Denver, religion seemed like something young people could embrace.''

John A. Burns, an administrator of Veteran Affairs in St. Petersburg, stopped to pray outside St. Paul's before a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. Then he went inside for the 5:30 p.m. Mass. He wanted to honor the pope he praised for his simplicity, spirituality and love of mankind.

A color photograph of the pope looked out over Burns and about 450 other worshippers.

``He brought such greatness to the world,'' Burns said. ``So, naturally, for Catholics, today is a day to be in church.''

Helen Moe stopped by St. Paul's to drop off a friend and to pay her own respects.

``I'm not Catholic, but I admired him so much,'' said Moe, who is a Lutheran. ``We all expected his death, but he was so active until the last hour, in spite of all the things that he suffered. The poor man is not suffering now.''

At St. Timothy Catholic Church in Lutz, Maria Farrell couldn't keep from choking up when she spoke about the pontiff.

``I really didn't think it would affect me this way,'' the 35-year-old said, wiping away tears. ``It's hard to imagine he's gone. He was always reaching out to people and he wanted them to reach out to him. He wasn't untouchable, and I think that's why he touched so many people.''

Gregg Conner, 40, also was drawn to St. Timothy, even though he normally doesn't go to church on Saturday.

``I couldn't not be here,'' he said, holding his toddler daughter, Ellen. ``I had to come and be with other Catholics praying for him. ... Whether you were a believer or not, he touched you.''

The gravity of the pope's loss was felt by even the youngest of St. Timothy's parishioners.

``I wish I could have met him,'' said Valeria Alvarez, 8. ``It's sad because he was a really good man. I'm sure there are a lot of names on the list to replace him, but it's going to be very, very hard.''

Fourteen-year-old Sean Marrero credited the Holy Father with bringing him back to the church.

``I never used to come to church,'' said Marrero, who will celebrate his First Communion this month. ``I heard him say once, `You have to believe in God. The ones who see, believe, we who don't see should also believe. Don't be a doubting Tom.'

``Well, I didn't want to be a doubting Tom. He [the pope] taught young people that it's OK to believe in God.''

At St. Jude's Catholic Church in St. Petersburg, Marie Curley struggled with her grief.

``My heart is broken,'' she said. ``I am very sad that he died and [that we won't] see him anymore. But I'm sure he's happy where he is.''

In her hands, Curley held the rosary beads Pope John Paul II had blessed during her visit to Vatican City in 1987.

Andrzej Nawalany, 60, of Toronto, learned of the pope's death on the radio and came to St. Jude's to pay his respects. A native of Poland, Nawalany said he met the man who would be pope when he was 24 years old.

Karol Wojtyla was bishop of Krakow then, Nawalany recalled. He remembered the elation he felt when Cardinal Wojtyla was tapped for the papacy in 1978.

``We were under communism, so for us there was big hope and big joy,'' Nawalany said. ``We were happy because he could bring our Polish problems out to the world.

``We were sure our fate was in good hands.''

Reporters Cloe Cabrera, Angela Delgado, Steve Kornacki and Karen Haymon Long contributed to this report.

View galleries on mourners, the pope's life and local reaction. Para las noticias del Papa en Espanol.